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To the Pioneers of Deerwood, 
those brave heroic souls, through 
whose perseverance and self-denial 
the wilderness was transformed 
into an orderly Community, these 
sketches are respectfully dedicated 
by the author. 

























PIONEERS of DEERWOOD 




By A. J. CRONE 

Deertvood, Minn. 


Ft'4- 


Copyright 1923 

By A. J. CRONE 

Deerwood, Minn. 


NOV 27 *23 

'©C1A763S23 


INTRODUCTION 


Fifty years have passed since the first white settler established his per¬ 
manent home in the locality we now designate as Deerwood. In the twenty 
years following the arrival of this first home-builder a number of families 
came to these parts, the Pioneers, of whom this write-up is concerned. 

Several of those who came here during that time are still with us, a few 
have removed to other places, but the greater portion of them are now re¬ 
posing in their long sleep. As years roll onward in their impetuous rush, 
the time is not far distant when the pioneers of Deerwood will remain only 
in the memory of posterity or in the fragments of dusty records. Much of 
their individual efforts may be forgotten. Their personal aims, achieve¬ 
ments and characteristics—the real story of themselves—will be affaced by 
the unrelenting “tooth of time.” In order that more int mate perception of 
these first settlers of Deerwood may be preserved, at least for some little 
time, these reminiscent biographical interviews have been written. 

In publishing these, the history of Deerwood w 11 also be unfolded, for, 
as Emerson says, “All history re'golves itself around a few honest persons. 
Certainly the history of Deerwood REVOLVES around these courageous men 
and women who, in the face of obstacles and adversity, builded their homes 
here, and laid the foundation for a Christ an, law-abiding society, the fruits 
of which we who live here today are in possession. They were the makers 
of the early history of Deerwood. 

When, on July 2, 1834, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company obtained 
from the government a charter to build a railroad from Lake Superior to 
Puget Sound, it had a bearing on the settling of this locality, for it was the 
first step towards railroad building in these parts. The charter included a 
land grant of 47 million acres. Every other section of land in this vicinity 
(except sections 16 and 36 wh ch were reserved as a heritage for the school 
children of the state) was railroad land. The even-numbered sections were 
government land that could be acquired under the original homestead law 
that was enacted in 1862. 

With the opening of the railroad 'n 1871, and free land within easy 
access, came the first settlers. In the words of a western statesman and 
author, “The pioneer is moved by something more than economic necessity, 
greater than adventure, deeper than poetry, that is to say, he is possessed by 
the magic of a vision born of an age-old desire—to have and to hold.” 

Land was the appealing force, the magnetic attraction, that influenced 
the settlement of Deerwood. Possession of land has always been an alluring 
inducement to the home-bu lder, who establishes himself in a new country. 
Not many came at first; there was a super-abundance of cheap land in those 





2 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


days; nearly all who came were poor in worldly goods, but rich in youth, 
health and ambition—a triumvirate of priceless qualities that are essential 
to over come the difficult es that are encountered in a pioneer country. 

The general prospect of this region “looked good" to them. The forests, 
with their ample supply of building material and fuel; the wild meadows 
where the grasses stood waist high, suggesting animal husbandry; the 
abundant game animals and the numerous fresh-water lakes teem.ng with 
fish—a wealth of resources was here awaiting intelligent ownership. 

The light iron rails on the freshly made grade furnished the connecting 
link with the outside world over which easy conveyance and transportation 
was made poss ble to the older established settlements. The crude log camps 
of the graders were standing along the r ght-of-way. The wagon ruts were 
still visible on the tote-roads, paralleling the railroad over which supplies 
had been hauled during the period of construction. 

Here and there on the lake shores nestled the tepees of the Red man. 
A good sized village was situated on what is now W ggen’s place at Crosby 
Beach. There were clusters of lodges in various favorable locations on the 
many lakes hereabouts. True, the Indians had agreed to a treaty with the 
White Father at Washington, promising to leave They had been good care¬ 
takers of the forests and other reserves of nature, for they never destroyed 
anything except as it became necessary for their immediate needs, and these 
were small indeed. Unselfishness was one of their characteristics and they 
were unable to convert any of the resources about them to their individual 
use. The century old pines on the upper Mississippi r.ver were looked upon 
with avaricious eyes by the lumbermen, through whose influence several of 
the leading Chippewa chiefs were taken to Washington in February, 1855, 
where a treaty was signed, the Indians rel nquishing their rights to the land 
in these parts. 

But the dusky aborigen was loath to depart from the hunting grounds 
where he was born and which had been wrested by his forefathers from an 
implacable enemy through a hundred and fifty years of bloody warfare. Is 
it any wonder he tarried a bit here in the land that was his heritage? 

Pardon us for digressing a trifle, for although this narrative is to be the 
story of the Pioneers of Deerwood, it may not be amiss if we cast a hasty, 
retrospective view—a glimpse of the more important occurrences in this 
locality before the white settlement. 

If we go back to the year 1700 we find the Sioux Indians in posession of 
Hi’s part of the country, with their central point of habitation at Issattys, 
(the Kathio of some writers,) a large village at the south end of Lake Mille 
Lacs. About this time their hunting grounds were commencing to be con¬ 
tested by another tribe, the Chippewas, whose abode was on the shores of 
Lake Superior, and who then were beginning to push westward. This con¬ 
sequently led to the ruthless warfare that continued to the t me of the white 
occupancy. 

The Chippewas, having the advantage of white men's weapons furnished 
by the fur traders, with whom they were in contact, in a comparatively short 
time drove the Sioux off onto the prairies. But the long series of encounters 
between the two tribes continued as the vanquished chiefs led their braves 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


3 


to seek reparations for the losses sustained. Raiding expeditions weret 
incessantly made by the warring parties into the territory of the other. 

Typical of these hostile incursions is an acoount given a few years ago 
to the writer by the late John Blackwood (born 1850, died 1921), for many 
years a resident of Deerwood. His narration is substantially as follows: 

“My father was a half-blood Chippewa, who at one time journeyed with 
a small company of Chippewas from the American Fur Company’s post at 
Sandy Lake to one of the villages down the river. Upon reaching Rabbit 
Lake, and finding their larder getting low, they concluded to halt for a day’s 
hunt. The women were left in charge of the camp and the men were away 
all day. The war party consisting of nine S oux chanced to pass that way, 
and discovering the camp, pillaged it, took one of the young squaws across 
the river to a tree to which she was bound and burned to death. When the 
men returned that evening from the hunt and found what had 
taken place dur'ng their absence, they immediately took up the pursuit of 
the ma^factors. The newly fallen snow made it an easy matter to follow 
their course. For three days and nights the chase continued with but few 
stops. Then one evening about dusk the pursuers spotted their quarry in 
a ravine as they were preparing to settle into quarters for the night. The 
Chippewas awaited early daybreak before rushing the sleeping enemy, dis- 
patch : ng them all except a sixteen year old boy,' whom they perimtted to 
return to his people with the message that ‘Ojibways always punish their 
enemies for their misdeeds.’ ” 

Deerwood, situated on an ancient portage route between the upper Missis¬ 
sippi river and Lake Mille Lacs, was in all probability the scena of many a 
combat, could the complete record be known. 

The termini of this trail within the present village of Deerwood were 
at what is now known as Tourist Park on Serpent Lake, and a few rods east 
of where the residence of B. Magoffin, Jr., now stands on Reno Lake. After 
leaving the south end of Reno Lake, the route with intervening portages, 
lead across Portage Lake, Long Lake (in section 28 and 33 of Deerwood 
township) and Bay Lake. 

Indian tradition has told of an important battle once fought at Battle 
Point on Bay Lake, the deta Is of which have been lost to the present genera¬ 
tion. 

Who the white man was that first beheld the Deerwood landscape with 
its forests and lakes, is not known to us, but it was n all probability one 
of the early French fur traders that were known as “coureurs de bois”— 
rangers of the woods—who came via the water and portage courses to the 
wigwam of the Red man, with his wares to exchange for furs A trading 
post was established at Sandy Lake in 1794, and a few years later at Leech 
Lgke, but long before that time the wilds of northern Minnesota had been 
traversed by voyageurs. 

A well known Indian character who lived here when the white settler 
came, was Chief Nokay, whose father was known to the whites as “George 
Washington.” Nokay removed to White Earth several years after the 
country had been well settled. 

Another noble Red man was Kahwessie, whose home was on the island 


4 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


in the northern part of Bay Lake, which also had been the habitat of h s 
ancestors for several generations. He came to his death at Pine Knoll 
through an accident, in the year 1898. 

The Indian names of the lakes and streams hereabouts were generally 
changed by the first white men who came here to live and given the English 
equivalents, but in so doing the charm and romantic impression that are 
suggested by the Indian language were lost. 

Thus, we find that Rabbit Lake was known by the Indians as Waboose. 
Serpent Lake as Kahnahbek Sagahgen (emphasis on the second syllable of 
both words) or Snake Lake. Mr. Archibald informs us that the name came 
about through a notorious savage known as Snake, whose lodge stood on 
the shores of the lake and that it thus became known as Snake's Lake. 

When the railroad company built a depot here in 1872 they gave it the 
name of Withington. Warren Upham in “ Minnesota Geograph c Names," 
says that Withington, was named “after the maiden name of the wife of 
one of the railroad officials." However we are of the opinion that the name 
was given in honor of J. S. Withington, who was a member of the first 
board of directors of the Northern Pacific Railroad. 

Later, owing to confusion with Worth ngton, Nobles County, it was 
renamed Deerwood, “for the plentiful deer in its woods ” 

Reno Lake was named for General Jesse Lee Reno,* who in 1852, then 
a captain in charge of mil tary road construction in Minnesota, made a sur¬ 
vey for a road from Mendota to the mouth of Big Sioux River. 

* Jesse Lee Reno, an American military officer, born in Wheeling, W. 
Va., June 20, 1823; was graduated from U. S. Military Academy in 1846; 
served in the Mexican war; was appointed Brigadier General of volunteers 
1861. He was killed at South Mountain, Md., Sept. 14, 1862, while leading 
a charge.—Crown Encylopadia. 

The Indian name of Bay Lake—Sisebagamah—means “Many turns," 
having reference to the irregularity of its shore line. 

Three of the lakes in proximity to Deerwood w T ere named by Robert 
Archibald: Portage, Town Center and Black Lakes. Portage Lake was so 
designated by him because of its position on the old Indian portage route; 
Town Center, owing to its geographical situation in the center of Deerwood 
Township, while Black Lake derived its appellation from the dark color of 
its waters, and the fact that the bass caught there were of a darker tinge 
than those from the neighboring lakes. 

Hamlet Lake was named by David Archibald, who, when he first saw its 
beautiful shore line, declared the site an ideal location for the building of a 
hamlet, the lake thereafter be ng referred to by that name. 

J m Lake, a fine little sheet of water about a mile east of town, received 
its name from Jim Hutchinson, who came from the east in 1873 to visit his 
cousin, Robert Archibald. One day, while out hunting he “discovered" the 
lake and also saw a deer stand ng in the water. He carefully aimed his shot¬ 
gun, which was loaded with buckshot, but missed fire owing to the powder 
having in some way become damp. Greatly to his chagrin, he returned 
without the deer, and when he related his adventure to his acquaintances 
and described the lake he had “discovered," they were doubtful as to its 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


5 


existance, as it was not known to them. Hutchinson, one day, led the 
skeptical ones out to the lake and they “christened” it Jim Lake. 

The origin of the name of I.ookout Lake, west of Deerwood has not been 
ascertained. It was known by that name at the time the railroad was built. 
Someone has intimated that the name might have been applied because of 
the clear open view obtained as one approaches the lake from the railroad. 

The year 1870 marks an epoch in the history of Deerwood territory. 
With the surveyors coming through in the early spring months of that 
year, blazing the way for a new continental railroad, it became evident 
that the actual passing of the Indian country was not far distant. Late in 
the year, the right-of-way was chopped out and the grading contractors 
were beginning to excavate and make the fills. 

From Deerwood eastward through the long hill, the work was done by 
a contractor named Smith. The methods of railroad grading of that period 
seem laborious in contrast with present day procedure. Nearly all of the 
work was done by hand, with wheelbarrows and dumpcarts as accessories. 
Smith had erected an excellent set of log buildings on what is now the P. G. 
Abraham son farm, where he had his headquarters. 

His camp were among the best constructed along the line, furnishing 
the men pleasant, commodious lodgings. The wages pa d ranged from 
$2.50 per day for shovelers, upwards to T5.00 for dumpmen, foremen and 
others, depending on the character of the work. 

Nevertheless, men were none too plentiful for the great amount of 
railroad building then in progress. It was a difficult matter to retain men 
for any length of time and the contractors were usually shorthanded. The 
Railroad Company sought to overcome this labor shortage by sending 
special agents to northern Europe to employ men by offering free transpor- 
tat’on and remuneration that would prove attractive to the wage earners 
of those countries. 

Sweden at that time was extending a line of railway through one of its 
central provinces, and from the laborers in service there, three-hundred 
came over, only about half of whom reached N. P. Junction (Carlton), the 
others deerrting at different places after their disembarkation in this 
country. Among those who arrived in that shipment were the following, 
who settled in Deerwood in the early days: Charles Anderson (born 1842 
died 1909), Lou's Sealander, now residing in Canada, and Andrew Bengtson 
who st 11 lives in Deerwood. 

Balch was the name of the contractor who had the work from Deerwood 
to Brainerd.. One of his quarters was situated just west of Rice Lake near 
the right-of-way. This contractor’s name has been given to one of the large 
railroad cuts west of Deerwood. Part of the contractors’ work was sublet 
to a number of individuals, whose huts could be seen at frequent intervals 
along the entire line under construction. 

The ra Is were laid as quickly as the grading was finished, but regular 
trains were not run for a year or more. In many places where the fills had 
been made during the winter months, especially across the frozen muskegs 
the spring thaws would cause the dumps to settle, in some instances to dis- 


6 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


appear entirely, so that considerable rebuilding was necessary before the 
rails could be placed. 

It was a memorable day in 1871 when the first locomotive—the 
“Minnetonka,”—slowly passed over the new tracks through what was later 
to be the village of Deerwood. Adam Brown was at the throttle and Capt. 
W. B. Spaulding in charge as conductor. But alas, only a number of Indians 
and a few track laborers witnessed this historic event! 

Before regular trains were run, the railroad was utilized by persons, 
who for divers reasons desired to travel through the newly opened country, 
by the use of hand cars, push cars or other nondescript vehicles, carrying 
their luggage and food supplies. Scarcely a day passed but what some of 
these itinerants would come trudging along with their cars. 

In April and May, 1871. the township of Deerwood was surveyed by a 
crew in charge of William F. Ingerson. He and his men were encamped in 
the abandoned quarters of Smith, the grading contractor. The original field 
notes made at that time are now in the archives of the secretary of state’s 
office in St. Paul. 

One of the young men who was a member of this surveying party, the 
following % year filed on a homestead bordering on Serpent Lake and now 
partly within the village limits of Deerwood. It was Robert Archibald, 
first settler of Deerwood. 

Robert Archibald is a descendant of that hardy race that has given to 
the world so many valiant soldiers, great statesmen and sturdy pioneers— 
the Scotch-Irish. There is also an admixture of English in the family 
group to which he belongs. In his veins flow the blood of pioneer stock, 
for his progenitors from time immemorial have been in the vanguard of 
new settlers. 

We trace the Archibalds back to the time when they left their native 
crags and lochs of Scotland and settled in northern Ireland. Possibly this 
took place during the reign of James I of England, at which time was 
begun the heavy immigration into Ulster by the Scotch. 

In early Colonial days three Archibald brothers came from Londonderry, 
Ireland, and established their new home in Massachusetts. Later, shortly 
before the Revolutionary War, one Robert Archibald of Massachusetts 
obtained a land grant in Nova Scotia from the British crown, and moved 
there with his family. He was a decendant of one of the above mentioned 
brothers, and a forefather of Robert Archibald of Deerwood. His land 
holdings in Nova Scotia were large. His descendants today are numerous 
and are scattered in various parts of that country and in the United States. 

In this connection it may be stated that the Archibald group now 
living in Minnesota are distantly related to the Swinburnes of England of 
which Algernon Charles Swinburne, the poet, is the foremost member. One 
member of the Archibald family in Massachusetts, Alexander Kent Archibald, 
has written a volume of verse, wh'ch has been published. 


Robert Archibald 


Robert Archibald, the first settler of Deerwood, was born in Musquodobit, 
Nova Scotia, June 20, 1844. His father was William Archibald, born in 
1810 and died in 1894. His mother’s maiden name was Diana Hutchinson, 
who was born in 1815 and died in 1864. She was a native of Nova Scotia 
and of Scotch and English descent. 

Robert was next to the eldest in the family of ten children, whose 
names are herewith given: Elizabeth (Mrs. R. B. Coffin, Deerwood, deceased); 
Robert; David (Bay Lake); Josephine (Mrs. Taylor Archibald, California, 
deceased); Herbert (Deerwood); Walter Deerwood); Mary (Mrs. H. J. Kane, 
California, deceased); Laura (Mrs. Robert Smith, California, deceased); 
Kate (Mrs. W. E. Wilbur, Aitkin, deceased). 

At the time of Robert’s birth, his father owned 200 acres of wild land 
on the Musquodoboit River in Halifax County, where the family resided. 
They were situated fifty miles from Halifax, their market town, and fifteen 
miles from the coast. The narrow valley land was of a clay loam and pro¬ 
ductive, but the greater part of the tract consisted of so called “blueberry 
barrens” suitable only for grazing purposes. 

This fact, and also that economic condit'ons in Nova Scotia were not 
of the best, prompted William Archibald to plan for a change of location. 
He also wished to have his children grow up where they would have better 
opportunities than could be secured in that bleak northern peninsula. His 
decision to settle in Minnesota was influenced by reading a book describing 
the Pembina district, where the Selkirk colony had at one time been es¬ 
tablished. 

He sold his farm and the family set out for Minnesota Territory in 
the year 1855. The journey was made from Halifax to Boston in a small 
sailing vessel, “The Barque of Hal.fax.” From Boston their line of travel 
was by rail to Buffalo, thence by boat to Toledo and by train to Galena, Ill. 
Upon their arrival at this town they were informed that the railroad had 
been completed to Dunleith, on the Mississippi River, and that the first 
Wn would be run on the following day. So the next morning they rode 
on the first train to enter Dunleith. Here the family took passage on a 
river steamboat, “The Crystal Palace,” to St. Paul, for the first time in their 
tedious journey of several weeks, enjoyed some relaxation, for the river 
craft was commod'ously furnished for the comfort of its passengers. 

Upon arriving at St. Paul a team was engaged to take the family to 
St. Anthony. As they came to the vicinity of the latter place a 
small cluster of buildings was to be seen across the river. 

Mr. Archibald, Sr., remarked to the driver, “Looks like a town over 
yonder.” 

“Yes,” replied the driver, “Some fellows are starting a town over there— 
they call it Minneapolis.” 

A ferry boat carried the family across the stream to Minneapolis where 


8 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


they remained a few days while the farther could look around for a suitable 
place for a temporary residence. Minneapolis at that time had but one 
general store. 

There was an abandoned 40-acre claim with a small log cabin s tuated 
between lakes Calhoun and Harriet, where the family lived for about a 
month. Some one suggested to William Archibald that he file on this home¬ 
stead which was open for entry, but after an examination of the soil he gave 
his opinion that it was of too sandy a character to suit him. 

After an inspection of the surrounding country, a 160-acre preemption 
relinquishment was bought for $200, situated two miles north of Lake 
Minnetonka in the “big woods,” near Tamarack, later known as Long 
Lake Postoffice. Subsequently it was discovered that eighty acres of this 
quarter-sect on was railroad property, which he was oblidged to purchase 
in order to keep his farm intact. The land was heavily timbered with hard¬ 
wood, requiring much expenditure of labor before it could be tilled 

William Archibald and sons spent a good deal of the first few years in 
preparing a part of this land for the plow. Oxen were used as draft 
animals in those first years on the farm. 

Young Robert occasionally earned some pocket money in his spare 
time by digging ginseng which grew plentifully in that locality, receiving 
from 4c to 20c a pound for the roots in their green state. 

It was some time before schools were established in that community. 
The first school house was built two miles from the farm on the “south 
road.” 

The subject of our sketch attending school during the winter months 
when the work on the farm was not urgent. The building was heated by an 
old fashioned fire-place, which, in extreemely cold weather proved insufficient 
for heating the room, so in mid-winter, a stove, also was used. 

He received his first schooling while living in Nova Scotia, where he had 
learned the rudiments of the three R’s. He could read fluently before com¬ 
ing to Minnesota, and attributes his love of poetry to the fact that he had 
studied a portion of the Presyterian Hymnal in his home at that time, his 
boyish fancies taking great delight in the metrical composition of that book. 

Aside from a limited number of text books for the children, there was 
not a great deal of reading matter in the pioneer home of that early day in 
Minnesota. The weekly arrival of The Pioneer from St. Paul, was an event 
eagerly lobked forward to by all members of the household. 

The turbulent times of the Civil. War, as well as the worrysome period 
of the Sioux uprising, brought changes to the tranquil routine of the Archi¬ 
bald home. With the first call for volunteers, Robert, then a lad of seven¬ 
teen, was anxious to enlist, but his wishes in the matter were over-ruled by 
his father, who objected on the ground that the young man did not seem to 
be in robust health and also because his assistance was needed on the farm. 
His brother, David, at the age of fifteen had gone away with the First 
Minnesota regiment and was experiencing the viciss tudes of battle at Bull 
Run, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill and Antietam. 

Then came the Indian Massacre in the summer of 1862, the Archibald 
family, and their neighbors, on two different occasions seeking refuge in or 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


9 


near Minneapolis. Fortunately the peril soon passed away, as far as the 
Long Lake settlement was concerned. 

When in July, 1863 news came that the First Minnesota had immorta- * 
lized its name at Gettysburg, Robert, feeling that it was imperative to make 
a choice between filial obligation and the innate desire to become a par¬ 
ticipant in the great adventure of war, decided in favor of the latter. On 
a Sunday morning, while his parents were at church, he stole away from 
home with the recruting office at Fort Snelling as the objective. Detained 
for a moment as he left the house, by one of his sisters, who inquired per¬ 
taining to his departure, he stated that he was going to Minneapolis to 
purchase a pair of boots for h'mself, the only time in his life, we believe, 
that Robert Archibald resorted to a fabrication. 

That night he stayed at Kennedy’s road house, a well known inn where 
many a wayfarer of that time found shelter and repast. 

Early the next day—August 19, 1863—he was at the fort, where in 
conversation with some men he was informed that Capt. Whitcomb’s Com¬ 
pany had not been filled to its quota and that his chances for enlistment 
were favorable. Applying at headquarters, he was read ly enrolled for 
three years, or for the duration of the war in Company B, of Major Hatch’s 
Gavalary Battalion, an organization authorized by the Secretary of War for 
the protection of the frontier from Indian marauders, with Major E. A. 
C. Hatch of St. Paul in command. 

At this time Robert Archibald was nineteen years of age, a tall slender 
youth, rneasur ng six feet, three and one-half inches in height “with his 
boots on.” 

After a month’s training at the fort, the men were taken across the river 
and given horses. The mount assigned to Mr. Archibald was a tractable, 
intelligent bay, with but one annoying tendency that caused its rider dis¬ 
comfiture on more than one occasion. It disliked to leave the company 
of other horses and would strike out by itself only after considerable per¬ 
suasion, but through the tact and patience on the part of the rider, the 
notion was overcome. 

It was the first time in his life that our young man had been away 
from home and he found himself at times qu te homesick. While his com¬ 
pany was awaiting orders, he was granted a three-day furlough with per¬ 
mission to use his horse. It was a happy, though brief visit spent under the 
parental roof-tree and in riding about the neighborhood, enterta'ned by his 
friends, and, as we conjecture, lionized by the young ladies. 

On October 5th, the battalion started out for Pembina. The cavalry 
was equipped with Burnside carbines, Colt’s navy revolvers and four-foot 
sabres. The saddles were of the McClellan type, covered with rawh'de. 

The supplies were hauled by ox and mule teams, moving slowly over the 
rough wagon trails At Sauk Center the first snow storm of the season 
was encountered on the 15th of October. 

Upon reaching Elm Creek several horses died, including the one Mr. 
Archibald rode. He was left to await the arrival of wagons and to serve 
as guard, while the main body made a forced march to Pembina, arriv’ng 


10 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


there on November 13th. It was several weeks later that the supply trains 
reached their destination. 

The men were busy for some time preparing winter quarters. It was an 
unusually severe winter, the temperature a good share of time remaining 
at 20 to 40 degrees below zero, accord ng to the official report of the expe¬ 
dition by Major Nash. 

Nearly all the horses and mules died during the winter. The supply of 
oats failed to arrive and the grass on the snow covered prairies was too 
scant to furnish sufficient forage. The oxen were converted into beef, pro¬ 
viding the greater portion of the meat supply. 

Some of the more enterprising of the Indians picked up the dead mules, 
quartering and palming them off upon the quartermaster as “elk-meat” by 
displaying an elk’s head with the hunks of flesh. The savages were severely 
reprimanded when their deception was discovered. 

Whenever there were special duties to be performed, it usually fell to 
the lot of those whose names appeared first on the roster to be assigned to 
such duties, possibly because those names were most convenient to use. 
Therefore it came about that Mr. Archibald, whose name came first on the 
alphabetically arranged register of Company B, was detailed on a number of 
occasions to assist the cook. He found that sort of work rather to h'.s liking 
and soon became quite proficient in the culinary art, an acquirement that 
stood him in good stead in the afteryears when he “kept bachelor’s hall” on 
his homestead. 

Particularly did he excel in the skill of baking beans and h's fame in 
that line gave the boys in his Company, grounds for requesting the chef ; 
whenever they wished for a “real mess of beans,” to “let Bob cook ’em.” 

The kitchen work at Pembina was no sinecure, as the food materials 
were of poor quality. For instance, the flour used had been milled from 
damaged wheat and the bread made from it was black and watery. Hard¬ 
tack and coffee was the standard bill of fare while on march or scouting 
trips, but, naurally, the menu was more varied at the barracks. 

The most noteworthy happening during the stay of the battalion at 
Pembina, was the capture of Shakopee and Medicine-Bottle, Sioux leaders 
in the Massacre of ’62. Mr. Arch bald had many conversations with them, 
it being part of his daily chore, at the time they were confined in the guard- 
room, to take food to them. They related many revolting stories of 
atrocities they had committed. Both were sent to Fort Snelling, tried for 
murder and hanged. 

There were a number of Indian half-breed sold ers with the battalion, 
most of whom became deserters. However, no effort was made to bring 
them back to the service, nor to punish them. 

On May 1, 1864, the battalion was ordered to move to Fort Abercrom¬ 
bie, the soldiers being taken up the Red River as far as Goose Rapids on a 
steamboat, and thence marching to the fort, arriving there on the 16th. 
The men were furnished with horses, to take the place of the mounts that 
had died during the previous winter. 

Mr. Archibald found the service at Fort Abercrombie most congenial. 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


11 


The guard duties were omitted; escorting stages and wagon trains across 
the frontier proved pleasant experiences. 

Major Hatch resigned from the command during the summer of 1864, 
owing to ill-health. Col. C. Powell Adams was appointed his successor. 

Mr. Archibald, while in the army service, went through the hardship 
of traveling in a blizzard one night, the details of which he had reason to 
remember for many a day. On the New Year’s day of 1865, he obtained 
permission to leave camp for the remainder of the day, in order to go hunt¬ 
ing. The weather was ideal for such a purpose—a mild winter day, the sun 
shining brightly on the wide expanse of prairie. He reached a small lake 
known as Elk Lake, six miles from camp, near the present site of Hankin- 
son, North Dakota, where he rambled for some time through the wooded 
fringe along the shore. About four o’clock the sky became overcast, the 
wind began to blow and snow flurries were filling the air. Soon a snow¬ 
storm was raging. He thought the storm would shortly pass over, so he 
gathered up some dry wood and built a fire. However, at dusk, the snow 
storm assumed the proportions of a blizzard, causing Mr. Archibald to 
meditate upon which course to follow: to stay until morning, or attempt to 
find the camp. The latter was a hazardous undertaking but he resolved to 
try it. Carefully not’ng the direction of the wind he inferred that he could 
reach camp, providing it would continue blowing from the same quarter. 
Slowly he traveled the six miles through the darkness and the fury of the 
storm arriving safely at the camp, greatly to his own relief and that of 
his comrades. One side of his face was badly frozen, but otherwise he 
suffeed no ill effects from the adventure. The sergeant in charge mildly 
reproved him for having taken the risk, suggesting it would have have been 
wiser to remain by the fire until morning. 

During a blizzard in February, 1866, Captain Fields and four men of 
Co. K, Sixth Cavalry, wh le en route to be mustered out, became lost and 
perished. A search for the missing men was instituted, continuing every 
day until the month of May, when their bodies were found by a cavalry 
squad of which Mr. Archibald was a member. 

Robert Archibald was mustered out of service at Tw'n Lakes, Dakota 
Territory, on June 7th, 1866. He had served three years, lacking two 
months, and had covered the greater part of Dakota on horseback. The 
out-of-door life on the plains had developed him into a strong, athletic young 
man who regretted to return to the pursuits of civilian life. When Sauk 
Center was reached, on the homeward journey, his comrades preva led upon 
him to prepare dinner for them, it being the last time that he served them 
with his famous dish of beans. 

The next three years were spent on his father’s farm, except at such 
times as he was employed on log drives—usually on Platt River, below Little 
Falls—or digging ginseng, the later being a profitable employment, netting 
him about five dollars a day. He passed a summer, thirty miles west of his 
home, engaged at this work. 

While occupied at this work he was observing of the peculiar form, 
habits and ecology of this plant, until he became an adept in locating those 


12 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


places where it grew most profusely and where the largest roots could be 
found. For a layman, his botanical knowledge of the ginseng plant was 
extrordinary. 

In the summer of 1870, Mr. Archibald came to Fond du Lac, near which 
place he obtained employment in the woods, hewing ties. His brother David, 
and cousin, Joe Lydiard, were also employed in the same camp, three m.les 
west of the above named town. The ties were made for the Lake Superior 
& Mississippi Railroad (later known as St. Paul & Duluth R. R.) To the 
young men, trained from boyhood to swing an ax, the chopping did not 
prove laborious, and good wages were made. 

After a month they came to N. P. Junction (Carlton) and secured jobs 
with Clarke & Eustis, Minneapolis men who had the contract to furnish the 
Northern Pacific Railroad with ties as far as the Mississippi River. The 
scene of their tie-making operations was situated fifteen miles west of 
“the Junction.” Forty men were employed at this work. In six weeks the 
contract was completed, with 60,000 ties ready for shipment. 

Mr. Archibald, with his brother and cousin, returned to N. P. Junction 
to recuperate for a few days and to seek employment They procured 
lodgings at the “St. Paul House,” as good a hostelry as any in the little 
mushroom town that boasted its forty saloons. 

Thompson, a few miles away, was then a cluster of tents, containing no 
permanent building. 

It was in the month of October, with prospects for several weeks of 
fme weather before the advent of the winter season, so when they learned 
that a large tie contract, at the Mississippi River where the proposed rail¬ 
road would cross, had been let to a man named William Chandler, they set 
out to find his camps. They followed the right-of-way, which in part had 
been cleared out. The r progress was impeded as Sandy River was reached, 
owing to the high water in the marshes. Staying in a hut over night, they 
decided to go to Sandy Lake, knowing that the steamboat was plying 
between there and river points to the south. Indians were engaged to take 
them in birch-bark canoes to the present site of the government dam. 

Reaching the lake, the shores were closely followed and several land ngs 
made because of the high wind. 

An incident occured on this canoe trip that may be worthy relating. 
A young Irishman in the party did not get along very well with his dusky 
“gondolier,” the latter at one of the landing places attempting to si p away 
in the canoe without his passenger. The impudence was frustrated by the 
prompt action of the Celt who caught the gun-wale of the canoe with his 
broad-axe and held fast. The India drew a long knife, while the other 
raised his axe. It was a dramatic moment, as the two—Paleface and Red- 
sk'n—like the gladiators of old, stood poised ready for battle. The trouble 
ended when the Indian dropped his knife and the native of the Emerald Isle 
hopped into the light boat. However, at the next landing made, the crafty 
savage slipped away leaving his fare behind. The others could not take him, 
as their canoes were loaded to full capacity. Mr. Archibald never saw his 
fellow-traveler again, nor heard how he found his way out. 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


13 


They were treated to a dinner of mallard and wild-rice at the hospit¬ 
able log- cabin home of Joe Libby, who had instructed his squaw to prepare 
a “big feed,” when he saw the men approaching his house. 

The steamboat had left the day before, and, as its time schedule was 
rather erratic, it was not known when it would return to Sandy Lake. An 
old dugout canoe, found on the river bank, was overhauled and made “sea¬ 
worthy,” in which they started down the stream. Libby warned them to be 
. sareful they should happen to meet the steamboat, lest the current in its 
wake would swamp them. They did meet the steamboat and were almost 
submerged by the big waves thrown out by the paddle wheel. 

Without further misadventure they passed the present site of Brainerd, 
then a few tents among the jack-pines on the west bank of the Mississippi, 
arriving at Crow Wing, which town was enjoying a boom; they were unable 
to find lodging at the hotels, the first night, and were compelled to sleep 
in a barn. 

The town, which was the seat of government for the newly organized 
County of Crow Wing, was the scene of considerable activity. Mr. Arch.bald 
accepted the first job that was proffered him by Wallace Bean, that of mow¬ 
ing hay with a scythe on the frozen meadow nearby, and putting it into 
stacks. 

At the completion of this work he, with Lydiard and his brother, were 
engaged by Jim Tibbltts to cut ties, about twelve miles east of Brainerd, 
but they remained but a brief time, because of unsatisfactory conditions that 
came about in this manner: 

A skunk had entered the “cook shanty” and was killed there by one of 
the employees, thereby causing the edibles to become unfit to use. Tibbetts 
was slow in replac'ng the damaged food supplies, so the men left his camp. 

Mr. Archibald next went to Mud River (Aitkin) where he entered the 
employ of William F. Ingerson, who had charge of the government land 
survey. Two crews were at work, each crew consisting of a compassman, 
two chainmen and an axeman. The camp equipment and supplies were 
moved from place to place with an ox-team. 

At the time Mr. Archibald became a member of these crews, they were 
survey ng a township line from Mille Lacs to the Mississippi River, after 
which Farm Island township was surveyed. 

In the early winter he left to visit his home at Long Lake, going afoot 
as far as Brainerd! Passing through what is now Deerwood he found a 
large crew of men clearing the right-of-way. He stopped over night at what 
was known as the “Half-way House,” a camp seven miles west of Deerwood. 

From Brainerd he traveled by stage to St. Cloud and thence by rail to 
Minneapolis. 

The following spring and summer (1871) he was again in the employ of 
the government surveyors, receiving in compensation therefor the sum of 
thirty-five dollars per month and board. As we had already stated, Deerwood 
township was subdivided and platted in months of Apr.l and May of that 
year. Mr. Archibald assisted in running out all the section lines, and in this 
manner became thoroughly acquainted with the topography of this region. 

The otters were numerous on the lakes in this vicinity, at that time, the 



14 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


trappers not having been able, seemingly, to exterminate this fur-bearing 
animal, as had been done with the beaver. This led Mr. Archibald to believe 
that trapping would prove a profitable venture, resulting, the following 
winter, in the formation of a partnership with Wilbur Coleman, a young 
man who had served with distinction in the Civil War; they established a 
camp on Wolf Lake, from which they conducted trapping operations over a 
wide scope of country. 

While they found the otter too wary and difficult to catch, and though 
securing but few of its furs, by spring they had obtained a large and valu¬ 
able quantity of peltry, consisting mostly of mink and muskrat. 

At the end of the trapping season they took the furs to a trader in 
Aitkin, but his offer was so much below the prevailing market quotations 
in Minneapolis, they did not dispose of them at that place. Coleman, wish¬ 
ing to go to Minneapolis, made Mr. Archibald a fair offer for his share of 
the furs and trapping equipment, which was accepted. 

During the next few months we find Mr. Archibald at Ayers & Dag¬ 
gett’s logging camp, seven miles west of Deerwood. 

In the early summer he and Jim Hutchinson grubbed out a piece of 
ground, in an open clearing near the present site of James Brownlee’s home, 
on which was raised two-hundred bushels of potatoes. A part of this crop 
was sold at two dollars per bushel, but the prices declined to fifty cents 
when the railroad began to bring potatoes in from outside points. 

For some time Mr. Archibald had contemplated acquiring a quarter- 
section of free government land, but had been undecided as to choice of 
location. There was no dearth of homesteads, so it was merely a question 
as to which one to select. The railroad company building a station here that 
summer (in 1872), influenced his selection in homesteading the beautiful 
tract on Serpent Lake, on which he ever since made his home. The filing 
was made at the government land office in St. Cloud, in the month of 
August, his being the first entry to be made for homestead land between 
Aitkin and Brainerd. 

Besides the depot, the railroad company erected a water-tank which 
was being filled from a well by the use of a hand-pump. Joe Lydiard had 
the job to keep the tank filled, in which work he was aided by an assistant. 
Some time later a steam driven pump was installed on Reno Lake and 
placed in charge of Prentiss L. Goss, a New Englander who secured the 
posit on through the kindly offices of a personal friend, Governor J. Gregory 
Smith of Vermont, president of the Northern Pacific Railroad. 

After filing on his homestead, Mr. Archibald set about building a cabin 
of poplar poles and making other improvements. 

He also established a road house for the convenience of the lumbermen 
who passed through with their teams. A log building, standing on the 
present site of the Bay Lake Fruit Growers Association’s store, that had 
been left by the graders, was fitted up for this purpose, while a nearby log 
barn served as shelter for the teams. 

Along towards Christmas he decided to pay a visit to h's people at 
Long Lake and made preparations to be absent by caching his potatoes in 
the cellar and hanging up in his cabin two deer he had killed. 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


15 


He returned to Deerwood (or Withington as it was then called) in the 
month of March, 1873, and found the country cpvered with a four-foot blan¬ 
ket of snow, the crust of which was strong enough to carry a team of 
horses. Those who had stayed here throughout the winter, reported to Mr. 
Archibald that the snow had been six feet deep, a short time before, and he 
had every reason to believe they were stating the truth. 

His brother, Walter, came up with him from Long Lake and remained 
for a vis t. Later in the summer his brothers, David and Herbert, also 
came and spent some time with him. Naturally these visits proved equally 
delightful to the homesteader and his visitors. 

During his absence in the winter the cabin had been entered and oc¬ 
cupied by two gentlemen of leisure—bums in the parlance of today—who 
had lived there a while and appropriated the potatoes and venison, much to 
Mr. Archibald’s disappointment. 

A much talked of occurence was the slaying of a Pillager Indian at 
Brainerd by Kahwessie. The homicide took place during a festal occas'on 
whereat Indians from different parts of the country congregated, and at 
which much “fire-water” was consumed. The Pillager had picked up a fire¬ 
brand which he flourished about, frightening the women whom he 
threatened to sear. Kahwessie interposed, result ng in the Pillager apply¬ 
ing the burning torch to his face. Kahwessie stood the ordeal with stoic 
indifference that is an inherent chareteristic of the Red man, until his 
cheeks and nose were badly scorched. He jumped upon the welder of the 
fire brand with his knife, the affair ending by the form of the Pillager 
lying prostrate on the ground and Kahwessie becoming a fugitive. He kept 
in hiding for a year or two in the secluson of the forests around Bay Lake. 

Mr. Archibald kept “open house” in his homestead cabin, where all 
were welcome—white men and Indian alike—to share with him the shelter 
of his roof in stormy weather and the contents of h s larder. “The latch¬ 
string was always out.” In bad winter storms, especially, would the Indian 
travelers bask in the glow of the open fireplace, smoking their kinnikinic, 
oblivious to all care. 

Always there preva led the best of feeling between Mr. Archibald and 
his Indian neighbors who found in him a friend and councellor, to whom 
they came in time of trouble for advice and consolation. 

Only in one instance was there an occasion for rupture between him 
and a member of the tribe, which came about unexpectedly, one day, in the 
following manner: Kahwessie entered the cabin and requested something 
to eat, saying he was hungry. In his eye was that insolent gleam that 
denoted recent indulgence in fire-water. Mr. Archibald started to place 
some food on the table when Kahwessie demanded: 

“Be queeck, me hungry!” 

Mr. Archibald paid no attention to h m and proceeded with his work, 
until there came a second impatient command to be “queeck,” when he opened 
the door and a second later the intolerant caller found himself pitched head¬ 
long onto the ground. 

The Indian felt greatly humiliated; his dignity had been humbled and 
it was mort’tying to become an object of derision among the members of 


16 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


his own tribe, which would be the case when they heard of his expulsion 
from the white man’s house. From that time he avoided pass.ng by Mr. 
Archibald’s place. When other Indians would land their canoes on the 
shore below the house, he would make a wide detour. 

A long time passed. Then one morning Mr. Arch bald in coming down 
a narrow, tortuous trail through the timber, met Kahwessie. The latter 
moved on, intending not to speak, but Mr. Archibald held out his hand, 
greeting him with “Boo-shoo, Kahwessie, how are you?” 

Kahwessie eagerly grasped the outstretched hand, glad to again be re¬ 
instated in the good graces of his white friend. He was a frequent visitor at 
the Archibald homestead as long as he lived in th's vicinity. 

When little She-bahqua-waninnie, the ten year old son of Charbonne, 
a widow, died, it was Mr. Archibald who was called upon to construct a 
coffin and to place the body in it, together with the few trinkets that were 
to accompany the owner on his journey to the happy hunting grounds. The 
1‘ttle fellow had been a great favorite with his people and a source of com¬ 
fort to his mother. When he became ill, shortly after the sugar-making 
time, the medicine men had been sent for, but their magic arts had failed to 
stay the progress of the disease. When the flickering life-flame was ex¬ 
tinguished, the message was sent out to the scattering villages according to 
a pre-arranged plan. Three shots were fired from the wigwam where the 
boy’s mother lived (near what later became the Wh tten farm). The -Indians 
in the various localities, who heard the shots, in turn gave the signal, until 
far and wide the news was carried that little Shebaqua-waninnie had de¬ 
parted from this life. Then began the tr bal ceremonies in honor of the dead, 
continuing for several days, taking on the aspect of festivity, with much 
dancing and feasting. Finally the body was carried to Red Cedar Lake and 
placed in the burial plot, where many of the nomads of the forest are peace¬ 
fully slumbering. 

In the year 1873 the little settlement, containing about half a dozen 
white persons (Mr. Archibald; John McQuillan, the section foreman; the 
pumpman and a few section men), received a welcome addition in Mr. Archi¬ 
bald’s brother-in-law and s ster, Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Coffin and their little 
son, Orla, who moved here and took up a homestead on the shores of Ser¬ 
pent Lake. This family lived for about four years in a log house on Mr. Ar¬ 
chibald’s land. 

Mr. Archibald continued improving his homestead by clearing a part of 
it and adding to the comforts of h's living quarters. At times he was absent 
in order to earn money for his “grub stake”. Thus he spent the wintdr of 
1874-5 in the pineries near Grand Rapids. 

One day in the spring of ’75 he was walking down the path leading 
from his cab'n to the railroad station. The Indians were making maple 
sugar in the timber nearby and he saw a white man coming from their camp 
munching on a lump of sugar. The two men greeted each other,, the stranger 
giving the information that his name was Charles Anderson and that he 
would likely locate in this vicinity. 

Anderson homesteaded a quarter-section on Black Lake, where he lived 
until his death in 1909. 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


17 


In the late summer of 1875 Mr. Archibald had employment for a time 
on the railroad near Lookout Lake. Ed Marden was foreman in charge of 
the work. They lived in a section house that stood near the northwestern end 
of the small body of water known as Rose Lake. 

During the summer of that year Mr. Archibald came into possession of 
a volume of Shakespeare’s works, which he read through most carefully, in 
fact, he read it through twice. To see life through the eyes of the greatest 
of English poets was to him a delightful excursion into the realms of a 
world, hitherto unknown, a revelation that opened new vistas leading him to 
a study of the classics, that he has continued throughout his life, and which 
has made him the well-read, educated man that he is today. 

The new settlement had no postoffice for several years. What little 
mail that came was left by the trainmen with Goss, the pumpman, who with 
his wife occupied the depot. It was not until January 6, 1882 that a post- 
office was established in Deerwood. The stat on agent here at that time, 
Charles C. Wheeler, was the first postmaster. He was the father of our fel¬ 
low townsman, Clarence C. Wheeler. 

The pioneer life was not without its adventures and perils, met with in 
the chase for wild animals in the forest, or in navigat ng the waters in some 
frail canoe. Mr. Archibald and Mr. Coffin had a narrow escape from drown¬ 
ing one spring day, when they set out in a canoe to hunt ducks. They were 
on their way to Rice Lake (the water level in those days permitt ng boats 
to pass up the creek from Serpent Lake), and were well out on Serpent Lake, 
when their boat capsized. They managed to keep afloat on the overturned 
boat, until they drifted ashore, but the cold water had thoroughly chilled 
them and they suffered great discomfort before reaching home. 

The country was a veritable hunters’ paradise in those days. Large 
numbers of moose, deer, and bears roamed in the woods and Mr. Arch bald 
had many thrilling experiences on his hunting trips. On one of these hunts, 
in the hardwood timber west of Rice Lake, he shot three bears, and had for 
the time being a real exciting adventure, as one of the big animals was 
charg ng at him when it was dispatched by a bullet from his rifle. 

Before the year 1880, aside from the families heretofore mentioned, the 
Engmans, Hovings, Kanes, and Torreys had settled in this vicinity. Walter 
Archibald, Harry Paterson, and Nick Newgard, all of whom were single 
men at the time, had permanently established their homes here. Andrew, 
John, and Peter Brand had been here at d fferent intervals, although they 
did not settle on their homesteads until a few years later. 

Travelers who had occasion to stop off at Whithington in the late ’70s 
would generally stay with Robert Archibald. One of these was Cuyler 
Adams, who remained several days while looking over some tracts of land 
in this vicin ty. 

Those of the settlers who wished to exercise their privilege as voters 
were obliged to go to the Lookout Lake section house, which was usually 
designated as the polling place, the precinct at that time extend ng to the 
deep ravine west of the railroad shops in Brainerd. The shop men would 
come out on the train to vote. Election days were considered hol'day occa¬ 
sions, times for gaity and relaxation from work. One of these general elec- 


18 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


tions was held in the depot, the ballots and blanks having been conveyed 
from Lookout Lake on the morning of election. 

The settlement became greatly stirred in 1880 by the tragic deaths ol 
two young persons who came here from Ch.cago to enjoy the charm of for¬ 
est and lake'in the new country. It was in the early springtime, when the 
ice was breaking up in Serpent Lake, that Walter Pugh and his young wife 
arrived in Withington. They were guests of Mrs. Pugh’s brother, Hugh J. 
Kane, and family (whose homestead on Serpent Lake was later purchased 
by D. E. Whitten). 

A few days after their arrival, Pugh set out in a boat, alone, to row 
across the lake to the Coffin place. It was the last time that he was seen 
alive. When he did not return that night, nor the next day, and it was dis¬ 
covered that members of the Coffin family had not seen him, a search was 
instituted along the lake, which revealed the overturned boat that had been 
washed ashore. 

About three weeks from the time of his d sappearance the body was 
found on the shore, near the present Milberry farm, by Ira Torrey. A grave 
was dug on Deare’s Point, where the body was interred. 

The grief of the young woman can more easily be imagined than de¬ 
scribed. The sudden taking away of her loved one and the shattering of their 
ambitions and hopes, was a shock from which she d-d not seem to recover. 
Weeks and months passed, but neither time, nor the comforting ministra¬ 
tions of friends, could mitigate her anguish and despair. One day she left 
the house, obviously to mail some letters at the ra lroad station, but the 
melancholia from which she suffered, evidently unbalanced her mind to such 
a degree as to prompt the rash action of taking her own life. She was found 
dead at the gateway leading to the Archibald homestead (near the present 
Humphrey residence), having shot herself with a revolver. In letters she 
had written to relatives, alius ons were made to h 2 r inconsolable frame of 
mind and weariness of life. She was buried by the side of her husband. A 
number of years later the bodies were d sinterred and removed to the Bay 
Lake cemetery. 

Mr. Archibald’s homestead (to which he received a patent from the 
government April 20, 1883) in its or ginal intact state contained a mile o>f 
frontage on Serpent Lake, all beautifully wooded shore-line. He set aside 
a part of it for a park, where at different times picnics were held by railroad 
shopmen from Brainerd, last day school affairs and other activit es. The 
grounds later became the property of the Wetzel family, who built a resi¬ 
dence there and named the place “Lindenhoff”. 

The first term of school in Deerwood (1883-4) was held in Mr. Archi¬ 
bald’s carpenter shop, which he kindly loaned the settlers for that purpose. 
He frequently invited the school master, John W. Carter, and the children 
to lunch dur ng recess periods. Victor Engman, who attended that school, 
says that scarcely a day passed but what he lunched in the Archibald cabin. 
The host would stack up Johnny cakes on his plate, with maple syrup near¬ 
by. “Help yourself, boy,” Mr. Archibald would say, “eat all you want.” 

When the school district was organized and speculation was entertained 
as to where a suitable site could be secured, it was Mr Archibald who came 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


19 


with a solution by offering to set aside a portion of his homestead for 
school grounds, an offer that was gladly accepted by the residents, who fore¬ 
saw that the question of a school site would be settled for all time. The 
title to the ground was given the Trustees of School District No. 7 on Octo¬ 
ber, 30, 1884, the instrument describing the location as follows: “Beginning 
at a point 180 feet due east from the southeast corner of the lot known as 
the Hanson lot, thence runn'ng due east 150 feet, thence north 150 feet, 
thence due west 150 feet, thence due south 150 feet to place of beginning.” 

To Mr. Archibald belongs the honor of having first introduced the cul¬ 
ture of small fruit in this section. He began by experimenting on a small 
plot and finally evolved a system that assured him good yields almost every 
season, usually about 2500 quarts of strawberries and 1000 quarts of rasp¬ 
berries, this be!ng in addition to his other farming operations. 

He opened the first boat house here and for a number of years was the 
only one in Deerwood that had boats to let. 

Romance came into the life of Robert Archibald, transforming the lone¬ 
ly bachelor’s cabin into a delightful home, presided over by a congenial and 
sympathetic companion. It was one day in the year 1886 that he happened 
to be at the station when the tra n arrived. A passenger stepped off the 
train, a young lady who came to visit her people in this locality. To a friend 
Mr. Archibald confided: “she is the loveliest girl I have ever seen.” It was 
a case of love at first sight. A short time afterwards he made the young 
lady’s acquaintance and a courtship followed that led to their marriage. It 
was on February 1, 1887, that he was united in marriage to Mrs. Hannah 
Olson, the daughter of Ole O. Skauen and Karen Anne Skauen.* Mrs. Archi¬ 
bald is a native of Norway, the family coming to the United States in 1881, 
and a few years later occupying a homestead in Section 26 of Deerwood 
Township, bordering on Hamlet Lake. 

Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Archibald, namely: Doug¬ 
las W., David., Edgar O., and Robert I., all born in Deerwood. Two of these, 
Douglas and Edgar, served overseas in the World War, and at present are 
living at home. David and Robert are married, the former residing in Cros¬ 
by, and the latter at East Troy, Wis. Mrs. Arch bald has a son, born to her 
by a former marriage, Clarence Olson, who is married and lives in Billings, 
Montana, where he holds a prominent position. 

Many guests are entertained throughout the summer months in the 
pleasant home of the Archibalds’, which they have named “NokikonLn 
Lodge”, and at their Log Cabin. 

Parts of the homestead have been platted and incorporated as additions 
to the Village of Deerwood. Archibald’s First Addition was platted in June 
1908. The school building, village hall, jail, and water tank, and the Cath¬ 
olic church are among the structures situated in this Addition. 

In 1910 the Archibalds’ made an extensive trip of sight-seeing and vis¬ 
iting friends, that included Oklahoma, Old Mexico, and the Pacific Coast 

*Mrs. Skauen died Dec. 30, 1903, and Mr. Skauen on Sept. 15th, the 
following year. 


20 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


states. Three years later, Mrs. Archibald paid a visit to the scenes of her 
girlhood home in “the Land of the Midnight Sun.” 

We have mentioned that Mr. Archibald is a well-read man. As a matter 
of fact he has read literature—the poor with the good—just as it happened 
to come into his hands, but he has prudently sifted out the chaff, and has 
diligently studied the worthwhile. He has formed his own conclusions as to 
the various classical works and has the advantage as a critic in that he has 
not previously been influenced by pedagogic bias. For instance, when he 
gives his opinion that Herodotus is not entirely trustworthy as a historian, 
or that the transcendentalism of Emerson is based on Greek philosophy, he 
does so, not because that may be the judgment of some other scholar, but 
for the reason that he has madtTthese discoveries himself. He is like the 
traveler in an unexplored country who notes the characteristics of the land¬ 
scape as he proceeds, uninfluenced by the impressions of other travelers. 

Being in possession of a remarkable memory, Mr. Arch bald is able to 
recite poems of unusual length, and has often been called upon, at social 
gatherings, for some of his readings. His responses have generally been 
with humerous quotations or with verse in the lighter vein. 

As to religious inclinations he has for many years embraced the belief 
of spiritualism. He is a member of the Spiritualistic Association of America. 
In politics Mr. Archibald is a progressive. Originally a Republican, he be¬ 
came allied with the Populist movement and has generally favored reforms 
and measures many years in advance of their becom'ng enacted by law. His 
attitude towards the leading political parties may be summoned up in a re¬ 
mark he made to the writer: “I believe the Democrats are a better lot than 
the Republicans because there are less of ’em.” 

He has taken an active part in local politics, from the time of the 
organ'zation of Deerwood Township, when he was elected supervisor, and 
has held various offices in township and village. 

For many years past he has been affiliated with the Aitkin Post of the 
G. A. R. 

In closing this sketch of the first settler in Deerwood, we can truthfully 
say, as was recently sa'd of another Minnesota pioneer, that he enjoys the 
“purest and most enduring of human pleasures, the possession of a good 
name among one’s neighbors and acquaintances. Such reputation regards 
not mental power, or manual skill, but character; it is slowly built upon 
purity, integrity, courage, and sincerity. To possess it is a crown ng satis¬ 
faction.” 


Robert Burns Coffin 


Robert Burns Coffin, who settled in Deerwood with his family in the 
year 1873, was a native of North Carolina. He was the third child in the 
family of nine children, born to Abel and Maria Iddings Coffin. His date of 
birth was August 2nd, 1828, and it was in Jamestown, Guilford County, that 
he first saw the light of day. 

The Coffins have been in America for many generatjphs, one authority 
gives the year 1680 as the date in which the first ancestor arrived from 
across the sea. They were mostly sea-faring men, some of them engaged 
as masters of whaling vessels, which occupation took them on long voyages 
to distant parts of the globe. 

Their home in those days was on the island known as Martha’s Vineyard, 
in the vicinity of Cape Cod. However, the family from which our subject is 
descended, was compelled to leave Massachusetts because of religious perse¬ 
cutions against the Quakers, a set of which they were members, and sought 
refuge in North Carolina, a colony noted for the spirit of independence 
which marked its people. 

The grandfather of Mr. Coffin bore the same name as his father—Abel 
Coffin. His great-grandfather on the maternal line, John Idd ngs, served as 
a minute-man in the Revolutionary War. 

Abel Coffin, who was a tanner by trade, removed to Indiana with his fam¬ 
ily, about the year 1841, settling at Knightsto\Vn. It was here that Robert 
attended the common schools and grew to manhood. At the age of seventeen 
he started to work away from home and was employed at the planing mill and 
as a carpenter. 

The family again moved westward, taking up a homestead near what is 
now Lyndale, in Hennepin County, Minnesota, in the year 1860. 

Then came the Civil War and the call for volunteers. Mr. Coffin and 
his brother, Frank S., responded by enlisting in Company D, Sixth Minne¬ 
sota Infantry, on the 13th day of August, 1862. It was the intent on of the 
government to send this regiment south and the brothers were given a fur¬ 
lough until such time as a date could be set for departure to the scenes of 
war operations. They had been home but a few days, when a special mes¬ 
senger summoned them to report immediately at Fort Snelling for duty, the 
sudden Indian uprising making it imperative that soldiers be sent for the 
protection of the settlers. 

From that time Mr. Coffin was with his regiment in numerous skirmishes 
and battles with the Indians. He was in the relief column that rescued 
Captain Hiram Grant and a detachment which had become isolated from the 
main body and had fought the battle of Birch Coulie where they were placed 
in a hazardous position. He was present when the Indians surrendered at 
Camp Release and gave up their white captives; also was an eye witness to 
the hanging of thirty-eight savage leaders at Mankato, having been assign¬ 
ed to special guard duty at that time. 


22 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


In June, 1864, the regiment was ordered south, first to St. Louis, and 
later to Helena, Arkansas, where many of the Minnesota boys succumbed 
to malaria. The progress of the war brought the Sixth through several of 
the southern states, and it fell to the lot of this regiment to partic pate in the 
siege and capture of the Spanish Fort and Ft. Blakely near Mobile, Ala¬ 
bama, where the last shots of the great internecine struggle were fired. 
The regiment was sent home and on August 19, 1865, Mr. Coffin and his 
brother were mustered out after three years of loyal service, fighting Indians 
and assist ng in preserving the Union. 

Mr. Coffin bought a tract of land in Independence Township, near his 
father’s farm, upon which he settled and began improving. He taught 
school at intervals and proved himself to be a successful school master. 
One of his pupils of those school days is now residing in Deerwood, namely, 
Mrs. Wh tten. 

On November 17, 1869, occured a most noteworthy event in his life, the 
day on which he united his fortunes with those of an estimable young lady 
of that community, Miss Elizabeth Archibald. She was the daughter of 
Mr. and Mrs. William Archibald, of wh ch mention has here-to-fore been 
made, and had been engaged in the profession of teaching. The marriage 
vows were read by James Baillie, Justice of the Peace in Minnetrista 
Township, and were w tnessed by David and Mary Archibald. 

The young couple settled down on the groom’s farm and by their 
industry soon had a fine place and a pleasant home. 

Mr, Coffin had long entertained the idea of taking advantage of the 
homestead law, by obtaining a free quarter-section of land. He and David 
Archibald (his brother-in-law) had made an inspect on tour of the rich 
prairie lands in the western part of the state, which region with its ease 
of cultivation was especially attractive, bat lacked transportation fac lities. 
When Robert Archibald came home from his surveying work in the new 
country to the north, through which the Northern Pacific Railroad was in 
progress of construction, and described the features of the land, Mr. Coffin 
became greatly interested. To obta n a homestead in close proximity to a 
railroad station seemed a worth while undertaking, so he decided to locate 
there. 

In the month of May, 1873, Mr. Coffin came to Whittington (Deerwood) 
with his team of oxen and livestock. His wife and little son, Orla C., came 
up n July, by way of N. P. Junction. The household goods were delayed 
ir shipment because of having by mistake been sent to Worthington. 

The family moved into a log house situated on Mr. Arch bald’s home¬ 
stead, and the two men for a time entered Into a partnership for conducting 
a lumbermen’s stopping place. 

While living in this cabin another son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Coffin, 
the first white child born in Deerwood. He was named William Archibald 
and the date of h s birth was February 10, 1874 

Mr. Coffin after a careful examination of the land in th's vicinity, 
selected his homestead in Section 18, Deerwood Township, bordering on 
Seypmt Lake, a wise selection, indeed. He built a commodious dwell ng on 
a little knoll overlooking the lake, which the family occupied for about two 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


23 


years. It was a frame building and was destroyed by fire in the month of 
February, 1878. 

The fire occured on a day that Mr. Coffin was absent from the home and 
h s wife, alone with the two children, managed to save but a few articles of 
the household goods. A log house was then built which served the family 
until a more comfortable residence could be erected. 

This home was the scene of many happy social functions in the pioneer 
days, as well as later. 

The Coffin farm was, the stopping place for the lumbermen who came 
through with their teams. Every summer Mr. Coffin would have a b'g lot of 
hay cut in the wild meadows around the country, which he would haul up to 
his barns, in the winter time, to supply feed for his own livestock and for 
the transient teams of the “Lumber Jacks.” 

There were hardships and privations to be endured in the new country, 
but Mr. and Mrs. Coffin, with fortitude and preserverance, qualities inherited 
from their pioneer forbears, applied themselves diligently to the task of 
build ng a home and carving out a farm in the wilderness, and as time pass¬ 
ed, more of the conveniences and comforts came their way. The oxen gave 
way as draft animals to a team of horses. The few head of cattle brought 
to the homestead soon became a good-sized herd, and the raw land with its 
buush, timber and rough wild meadow, developed into the highly improved 
farm. 

Mr. Coffin was at all times identified with the progress of this com¬ 
munity. He was one of the leading spirits in the organization of the town¬ 
ship into a body corporate and in the promotion of roads and schools. In 
fact he and John Engman, Sr., laid out and cleared the first road to Brainerd 
that could be traveled in all seasons. 

He was appointed justice of the peace while the township was still an 
unorganized part of Crow Wing County, an office that he continued to hold 
for over thirty years. Judge Coffin, as he was known, well earned his title 
for the faithful and impart al manner in which he performed those duties. 
He possessed a temperament that especially fitted him for judicial work, 
He served at times also in other capacities, such as assessor, and at the 
annual town meetings usually officiated as moderator. He was a versatile 
man. not only versed in law, but was a student of history and the literature 
of the so called liberal thought He employed most of his leisure time in 
read ng. The writer recalls a time, when a boy, he was sent on an errand to 
the Coffin farm and found Mr. Coffin herding the cattle in a field. It was a 
cold day in the late autumn and he wore an overcoat and mittens, but it d'd 
not prevent h m from perusing the contents of a book. While attending to 
the prosaic duty of herding the livestock, he also followed the movements 
of the conquerors of old. 

About the year 1910 he sold his farm and moved into the Village of 
Deerwood, where he built a comfortable home. 

Mrs. Coffin passed away November 16, 1915, at the age of seventy-one 
years. Upon her death, Mr. Coffin made his home w th his son, 0. C., and 
familv. He spent the winter of 1917-18 with his son, William, at Red Bluff, 
California, returning to Deerwood the following summer. 


24 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


In the month of August, 1918, he left for Seattle, Washington, to visit 
his sister, Mrs. Barto, and to attend the reunion of the Grand Army of the 
Republic at Portland, Oregon. He was taken ill at his sister’s home and 
passed away in death on Friday, August 23, 1918, having reached the ripe 
age of eighty years. 

His body was brought to Deerwood for sepulture in the family burial 
lot, where he reposes amid the sylvan scenery overlook’ng Portage Lake, 
not far from the locality where the best years of his life were spent. 


Orla C. Coffin 

Orla C. Coffin became a pioneer of Deerwood at a very early age, in 
fact he had just passed his second birthday when his parents brought him 
here from Independence Township, Hennepin County, where he was born on 
July 8th, 1871. 

He has l.ved here continously since the time of his parents’ decision to 
make this locality their home, excepting for a few brief absences. He re¬ 
ceived his education in the public schools, attending the first two terms of 
school in Deerwood w.th John W. Carter and Miss Laura E. Walker, respec¬ 
tively, as teachers, and was a pupil of the school at Long Lake, Hennepin 
County, later. 

When he reached the age of eighteen he learned telegraphy under the 
tutelage of H. J. Hage, then station agent at Deerwood, and obtained a posi¬ 
tion as telegraph operator at a little way-station in Montana, where he re¬ 
mained about a year. Not finding this vocat on entirely to his liking, he 
tendered his resignation, and returned to Deerwood, where, during the follow¬ 
ing six years, he assisted his father in the management of the farm. 

At the age of twenty-one, we find Mr. Coffin a candidate for township 
clerk, a cand dacy bestowed upon him at a caucus held in Craig & Craig’s 
store. It is interesting to note that the political fortunes in Deerwood 
thirty years ago, were fully as unstable and uncertain as they are today. 
The caucus had been called because of certain dissatisfaction, in the minds 
of some, as to the management of the townsh p affairs, centering on the 
occupant of the clerk’s office, R. H. Morford. The latter was a man of un¬ 
questioned ability and experience in rjublic affairs, and whose advice was 
generally followed by the Board of Supervisors. Those who wanted Mr. 
Coffin to become township clerk felt that Mr. Morford was using undue in¬ 
fluence on the members of the board, and therefore wanted a change. 

The number of free-holders attending the caucus was sixteen, all in 
favor of Mr. Coffin, with but one exception. 

When the ballots were counted at the close of election day it was found 
that Mr. Coffin had received fifteen votes, while Mr. Morford had something 
over thirty. The young man vowed that he would never enter the political 
game again. 

A year passed and another election came but Mr. Coffin d d not even go 
to cast his vote. However, he was elected to the office of township clerk 
with a handsome majority. But he did not qualify for the office for some 
time, declaring that he did not want the job. One day he came into the post 
office, and Mr. Morford (who was the postmaster) handed him a large 
bundle, containing the books of the township clerk. Mr. Coffin at first 
refused to accept them, but Mr. Morford insisted: “You were duly elected, 
Orla, and the books belong to you; now, you had better take them away from 
here as I don’t want them any more.” Reluctantly Mr. Coffin took the books 


26 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


home and he faithfully performed the duties of that office during the next 
sixteen years. 

In the year 1897, Mr. Coffin was united in marriage to Miss Lillian 
Wasserz eher, daughter of Otto and Adele Wasserzieher, who lived at Bay 
Lake. Mrs. Coffin, previously to her marriage, was engaged in the pro¬ 
fession of teaching. 

For a brief time, Mr. and Mrs. Coffin lived on Minister’s point, but in 
1898 Mr. Coffin entered into the mercantile business at Deerwood on purchas¬ 
ing the store owned by Craig & Craig, and also bought the residence pro¬ 
perty of W. H. Craig, and moved to town. 

Mr. Coffin successfully conducted his business for a period of eighteen 
years. He enlarged the building and carried a large stock of merchandise. 
He also built a handsome residence during this time. In the spring of 1916 
he ret red from the store business, selling out to the Bay Lake Fruit Grow¬ 
ers’ Association. 

Since then, Mr. Coffin has served the village as street commissioner 
and in other capacities. At his spare time from these duties, he is usually 
occupied in the work of improving his tract of land on Minister’s Point, or 
in looking after the repairs on his two residence properties in town. 

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Coffin, namely: Adele, 
who this spring (1923) graduates from the State Teachers’ College at 
Moorhead; Robert, employed by a bus company, operating on the Cuyuna 
Range; Herbert, at San Diego, Cal., who in April will complete a three-year 
enlistment in the U. S. Marine service. 

Mr. Coffin is a gentleman who enjoys in the fullest measure the confi¬ 
dence of every one, in the community in which he lives and who never hes¬ 
itates to lend his mfluence for good government, local and national. 

He is a charter member of the Deerwood lodges of the Modern Wood¬ 
men of America and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 


William A. Coffin 

William A. Coffin, the first white child born in Deerwood, died at Red 
Bluff, California, July 5th, 1921. Was marr ed to Miss Florence Shephard, 
at Deerwood, 1904. At the time of his death he was operating a fruit 
ranch. He left no children. 



Walter S. Archibald 


It was fifty years !*• t April since Walter S. Archibald first saw this 
locality. His first impressions of the country were not the most favorable, 
for the ground was covered with a heavy blanket of snow, and had a bleak, 
inhospitable appearance. But he stayed two months, and before he left he 
becamed charmed with the beauty of the lakes and woods, which the early 
summer brings about, so that he decided to return later and establish his 
home here. 

Mr. Archibald was the sixth child of W lliam and Diana Archibald, and 
was born in Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia, July 6, 1851. H s parents settled 
in Hennepin County, Minnesota, when he was four years old, and where he 
lived until he reached his majority. The first school he attended was situ¬ 
ated two miles from his father’s farm, and known as “the German school,” 
because of the nationality of its patrons. His sister, Elizabeth, was the 
teacher. 

At the conclusion of his first visit (1873) he was accompanied by his 
brother, Herbert, (who was also living here) to Brainerd, where they obta'n- 
ed a canoe, and paddled down the Mississippi River to Minneapolis. They 
camped one night at Pike Rapids, where they found their brother, David, 
engaged on the log dr ve. 

He was again in Deerwood in 1876. Rev. J. A. Gilfillian, “missionary 
priest of the White Earth,” arrived one day and asked him to be his guide 
on a trip to the Indian village at Mille Lacs. They followed the old Indian 
portage route and reached the cluster of wigwams on Mille Lacs without a 
mishap. A pack of vicious dogs rushed against the men, as they approached 
the village, and Mr. Archibald feared they would be attacked, but the mis- 
s'onary calmed the beasts by shouting a few Chippewa phrases. The Ind ans 
received the white men with courtesy and especially did they entertain 
Gilfillian with respect. 

In the year 1878 he was employed by Atwater Brothers, land examin¬ 
ers for the St. Paul & Manitoba Railroad, and traveled through Otterta 1 
County, and also followed Red River from Breckinridge down to Ada. Upon 
his return, in the month of December, he stopped off at St. Cloud to file his 
entry to the homestead in section 8 of Deerwood Township, which has been 
his home all these years. 

In July, 1891, he was united in marr age to Miss Sophia Conzet, a na¬ 
tive of Minnesota, of Swiss and German descent. Mrs. Archibald, who was 
born on Lincoln’s fiftieth birthday, has taught school in Todd County, also at 
Bay Leke and Deerwood. At the time she was here the total number of 
pupils in the district was a little over thirty. 

Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Archibald: Florence Elizabeth, 
now Mrs. George Erickson of Deer River; George Harvey of Duluth; Wil¬ 
liam Martin and Olive Mathilda passed away in their infancy. 

The Archibald home is beautifully situated on an elevation overlooking 


28 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


Serpent Lake, the site bordered by majestic pines. The paved road from 
Deerwood to Crosby passes through the.r farm. 

Mr. Archibald says that his life has been influenced more through the 
novels of Dickens, than by any other literature, and that his philosophy of 
life has been modified by the perusal in past years of “The Index,” a free- 
thought publication. He is deeply interested in political economy and be¬ 
lieves that before much progress can be made in government affairs, a 
sweeping re-adjustment is necessary. 

On a number of occasions, Mr. Archibald has written down his opinions 
in versified form and has given evidence of possessing a natural poetic tem¬ 
perament. As a youth he wrote the following, “To the Grasshopper,” 
which he read before a literary society: 

Thou curse to western emigration, 

A scourge, in fact, to all the nation— 

And, we might say, to all creation— 

As great an evil as inflation, 

But one from which there’s no salvation. 

For one, whose helpless situation 
With farming for his occupation, 

Who raises on his small plantation 
Just food enough for winter’s ration, 

Indulging in anticipation, 

And in the self-congratulation 
That he has overcoming starvation; 

While he does thus in contemplation 
Lend wings to his imagination, 

To the Great Author of creation, 

His neighbor comes with information 
That this four-winged abomination 
Is eating up his vegetation— 

Has come without an invitation 
And yet with a determination, 

To leave behind him devastation, 

Alas, complete annihilation! 

At a time when the Deewood settlement was young, he bought a pair 
of hose in Brainerd. One of these proved defective, wearing out in a single 
day. He returned it to the store with a paper pinaed to it, on wiiich he had 
inscribed the following: 

You surely can’t survive the shock, 

When you behold this tattered sock; 

For it is one you sold of late, 

So much inferior to its mate 
Let it be hung beside your door 
In mourning when you are no more! 

There let the rude North-wind confess 
Its looped and windowed raggedness, 

And while your funeral dirge is sung, 

Be every tattered rag a tongue, 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


29 


While every opening rent proclaims 
Your portion in eternal flames. 

We also publish herewith one of his recent poetical effusions, which is 
entitled, “A Century Ago:” 

My father built an elm-bark camp, 

Resembling a hive, 

Deep in the Minnetonka woods 
In Eighteen-fifty-five. 

Others an earlier date can show, 

But few a century ago. 

A hundred years have nearly run 
Since Minnesota’s soil 
First felt the foot-prints of a son 
Of innovating toil. 

No implements to reap and sow 
Were here a century ago. 

No woodman’s energetic stroke 
Or locomotive’s scream, 

Betrayed the echoes, or awoke 
The savage from his dream, 

As by his campfire’s flickering glow, 

He slept a century ago. 

On upper Mississippi’s stream 
Stood forest dark with pine, 

With which its waters since did teem, 

The land with homes enshrine 
Grand in the midnight’s northern glow, 

Un-axed a century ago. 

Now o’er the highway’s smoother face 
We’re speeding near and far; 

Science has moved at such a pace 
And brot the motor car, 

Where oxen, picturesque and slow, 

Trailed West, a century ago. 

Surely Mr. Archibald has lived up to the name he received in infancy—• 
Walter Scott. 

Mr. and Mrs. Archibald are loved and respected by a wide circle of 
friends, because of their open-hearted hospitality and their true-blue qual¬ 
ity of character. 


John Engman 


John Engman settled in Deerwood on the 13th day of June, 1876. He 
came from Michigamme, Michigan, with his wife and two sons, because of 
the hard times prevalent in the upper peninsula of that state, and he had se¬ 
cured work on the railroad here-but we will tell his story from the beginning. 

Mr. Engman is a native of Sweden, the country that together with Nor¬ 
way has furnished more pioneers to Deerwood and the state of Minnesota, 
than all the other countries combined. If you know something about a 
person’s ancestors and the environment under which he has been reared, it 
is a foregone conclusion•that you will know a great deal of his personal 
traits and temperament. 

The province of Dalarna, where Mr. Engman was born in 1845, and 
where his ancestors lived and tilled the soil for many generations, has con¬ 
tributed greatly to the thrilling incidents that have embellished the pages of 
Swedish history. It was the rural folk of this province that formed the 
majority of the volunteer army under Gustavus Wasa, when he struck the 
brilliant blow for independence. Like our own Quakers, these people, in 
the past, have maintained an attitude of equality with all men, addressing 
the king and the high and mighty in the same terms they did their neigh¬ 
bors, scoffing at titles, and refusing to raise their hats to anyone. 

Mr. Engman’s parents were farmers, living in Skallungby, in the par¬ 
ish of Orsa. His father was Rask J. Andersson, born in 1812; his mother 
was Gref Britta, born in 1897. He attended the school with some irregular¬ 
ity and was tutored also in religious instruction by the vicar of the parish. 
More stress was given to this latter p-art of his education than to the other, 
so that his attainment in catechism and Bible study was well advanced. 

Very early in life he commenced to plan to go to America, the land of 
opportunity, but he had reached the age of twenty-four before his ambitions 
in that respect were realized. It was at Quebec, in 1869, that he first set 
foot on the soil of the New World. Friends had already preceded him to 
Kanelbec, Minnesota, where he did various work on the farm, road making 
and bridge building. 

He was also employed by Erickson, a well known grading contractor, as 
foreman in charge of a crew of laborers on the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad. 

In October, 1871, he came to Upper Michigan, settling at Michigamme. 
The following year, on the 29th of November, he was married to Miss Lisa 
Svensson, who had arrived in this country on June 23rd of that year, from 
her home in Vermland, Sweden. 

After their arrival in Deerwood, the Engman family orcupied the sec¬ 
tion house (which was later used for freight shed). In June, 1878, Mr. 
Engman filed his entry for a quarter-section homestead comprising the 
north-west of eighteen, in Deerwood township. He first built a house in a 
little grove of hardwood timber on Rice lake, but discovered after a brief 
residence there that he had built on R. B. Coffin’s homestead, instead of his 



PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


31 


own. A careful survey was made and a log house built about fifteen rods 
southwest of where the present residence stands. 

Two of their six children, Frank and John F., were born in Michigan, 
while Victor, Albertine, Charles and Mary were born in Deerwood. 

Naturally, the making of a home and the opening of a farm in the tim¬ 
ber, under those early conditions, was a matter of perseverance and hard 
work, covering a period of years. There was a large and growing family 
to care for, which required employment by Mr. Engman away from home, 
a great part of the time. But with the passing years, the farm was de¬ 
veloped sufficiently to support its occupants. It was a red-letter day when 
the first cow was bought and brought home. Mr. Engman purchased her near 
St Cloud and led her all the way home, following the railroad tracks, and 
with difficulty fording the streams, where the culverts prevented him from 
following the rails. 

The first span of oxen was raised from calves—one bearing the name of 
“Star”, and the other “S” because of a white mark on its back bearing a re¬ 
semblance to this letter. 

Mr. Engman was active in the affairs of the township and served for 
many years in the capacity of road overseer and supervisor. He likewise 
has watched the play of state and national politics and has fearlessly voiced 
his opinions on all questions. At first agreeing with Republican p^rty 
principles, he later identified himself with the Farmers’ Alliance and the 
Populist party, following the leadership of Ignatius Donnelly. 

He was (one of the organizers of the Skandia Cemetery Association and 
was one of the charter members of the Lutheran church here. 

Mrs. Engman died Sunday, August 31, 1919, in her 82nd year. After 
the death of his wife, Mr. Engman disposed of his farm to his sons, Frank 
and Victor and has been away from Deerwood most of the time, since then. 

In answer to the question, “What advice would you give a young man 
who is starting out in life?” he said, “He should get congenial work, prac¬ 
tice economy and not attempt flying before his wings are able to carry him.” 

It would be impracticable in the space already devoted to John Engman, 
pioneer of Deerwood, to give a proper estimate of the services that he has 
rendered to this community. To have settled in a wild timber country, with 
no means except a pair of strong arms, and to have built a home and cleared 
up a farm, is an achievement in itself worthy of record, but he also found 
time to accomplish innumerable acts of kindness and service to his fellow- 
men. 

Now and then, throughout the years, when his work wiould become 
wearisome and monotonous he would take a few hours off, or sometimes a 
day, to seek the companionship of his neighbors—pother settlers whose prob¬ 
lems were simular to his—to discuss the matters in which they were inter¬ 
ested. Usually the topics were concerned with local and county politics, 
roads and other community needs. 

It was for a long time that the thinly settled Deerwood district had no 
representation at the county seat by any one residing here. Mr. Engman 
talked over the situation with his friend, Harry Patterson, asking the latter 
to become a candidate for the office of county commissioner. At first Mr. 


32 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


Patterson was reluctant, saying that he was very little acquainted with the 
people in the eastern end of the district, but Mr. Engman persisted in his 
request, and invited Mr. Patterson ( to accompany him to Brainerd for intro¬ 
duction to the county officials and the business men of the city. The upshot 
of the matter was that Mr. Patterson becamie a candidate, was elected and 
served as county commissioner for many years. 

At the second meeting of the Skandia Cemetery Association, held May 
28, 1888, Mr. Engman, with John Brand and Sam Redeen, received the ap¬ 
pointment to act as a committee “in selecting a place flor the cemetery.” The 
committee, four days later, recommended the purchase of two acres of land 
from Nels Erickson in section 21. On June 15, 1888, he was elected presi¬ 
dent of the association, an office he held for three years. 

When a group of settlers formed a co-operative company to buy a small 
feed mill, Mr. Engman was a shareholder and offered a building site for it on 
hip farm. The mill, which was operated by horse power, proved a great 
benefit to the farmers who hauled their grain to “the mill at Engman’s” 
when in need of ground feed. 

Mr. Engman’s suggestions pertaining to the first road-building in Deer- 
wood were followed out, especially during the time he served as road over¬ 
seer. The present highway from Deerwood west as far as Rice Lake, was 
laid out through the efforts of Mr. Engman and R. B. Coffin. 

Proud of his adopted country, Mr. Engman has always resented any 
unfair reference to its institutions, although he has /protested against politi¬ 
cal graft and has 'been conscious of existing inequalities. During a visit to 
his native land (after an absence of forty years) he heard a prominent man 
speak of America as “a country without a religion.” Instantly Mr. Engman 
challenged the speaker and before the argument was ended it became clear 
that America had religion in abundant measure. 

Mr. Engman’s name will be inscribed in the history of Deerwood, not 
only as one of the first pioneers, but as a man who did his part, with means 
at hand, in developing this community. 

Before closing this sketch we wish to pay tribute to Mrs. Engman, who 
shared with Mr. Engman the trials and privations of the pioneer days, and 
whose patient endurance made possible the success of after years. 


Frank Engman 

The first vivid recollections that Frank Engman has of his childhood, are 
associated with Deerwood. His earliest impressions of the big outside world- 
the world he discovered when he was old enough to venture forth from the 
threshold of the parental roof-tree—are of Reno Lake, where Sam Carthcar 
used to take him bathing. Carthcar had a way of wading out from the 
shore with Frank and John, Jr. under his arms, and upon reaching a distance 
where the water was waist deep, would instruct the youngsters in the art of 
swimming—never to be forgotten experiences. There are also memories of 
the Indian camp-fires on the shore and the sound of drum-beats penetrating 
the stillness of the night, when the pow-wows were held. At times he would 
find stacks of venison piled on the depot platform, his boyish fancies being 
concerned mostly with the speculation as to which of the specimens possess¬ 
ed the most elaborate set of antlers. 

Mr. Engman was only three years old when he first came to Deerwood 
from Michigamme, Michigan, where he was born, May 4, 1874. He was one 
of the pupils that attended the first school held in Deerwood, and studied 
subsequently under Laura E. Walker, Minnie H. Battles, Gratia Walker, 
Blanche Ingersoll, May Keyes, Maud Reeves and other teachers of early days. 

In his youth he worked away from home a great part of the time, per¬ 
forming various kinds of labor in the Dakota harvest fields, in the lumber 
camps, at the florist’s occupation in Brainerd and at carpenter work. 

In the meantime he was pursuing studies in political economy, sociology, 
and horticulture. He is today one of the best informed persons in Deerwood, 
on these subjects. 

During the years 1897-98 he served as deputy sheriff of Crow Wing 
County and made a record for his fearless arrests of blind piggers who were 
operating in the towns north of Brainerd. An incident resulting from those 
arrests is recalled: A prominent attorney of Brainerd had been engaged 
to defend the unlicensed vendors and in the examination of witnesses before 
the court, he asked Mr. Engman how he knew that the liquor that had been 
sold was whisky. Mr. Engman pulled a well-filled bottle from his inside 
coat pocket and handed it to the attorney with the remark: “Sample it your¬ 
self, Your Honor—you’re a better judge of whisky than I am,” which brought 
the court room to an uproar and ended further interrogation of the witness 
by the attorney. 

His marriage to Miss Esther Olivia Stenstrom took place on Septem¬ 
ber 5, 1907. Mrs. Engman was born June 29, 1883, in Stockholm, the pic¬ 
turesque capital city of Sweden, where she lived until her coming to the 
United States, in her teens. 

The Engmans have lived mostly in Deerwood since their marriage, ex¬ 
cept for a brief residence in Alexandria, Minnesota, where Mr. Engman con¬ 
ducted a conservatory, and at Spokane, Washington, where the family had 
their home for a time. Since their return from the Pacific Coast in 1919, 


34 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


the family have occupied the farm home, west of Deerwood, the original 
homestead which Mr. Engman and his brother, Victor Engman, have bought. 

Mr. and Mrs. Engman have four children, namely: Irene, Frances, Ken¬ 
neth, and Gertrude. 

Mr. Engman has been interested in politics since the time he reached his 
majority, having been active in the labor and farmer movements. His ac¬ 
tivity has been felt in the county, where he is recognized by friend and foe 
as a political leader of ability. 

In 1920, at a meeting held in Little Falls by Nonpartisan delegates, he 
was nominated as a candidate for state representation for this district. 
While not receiving a sufficient number of votes to insure his election, Mr. 
Engman made an excellent showing. 

The Engman farm is not only ideally situated, but is being tilled accord¬ 
ing to up-to-date methods. With its plots of small fruits and vegetables, 
its acres of alfalfa and grain, all displaying the careful planning and indus¬ 
try of the proprietors, the farm is one of the show places of this vicinity. 

Dairying has received a great deal of attention from the Engman brothers, 
their plan being to increase the present herd of ten high-grade Guernsey 
cows, until this department of the farm will take precedence over the others. 

The program of systematic operation and improvements that has been 
followed, is the instrumental factor in the development of the farm and is 
commendable to the enterprising spirit of the owners. 

Mr. Engman, while in no uncertain terms scoring the present day situa¬ 
tion in the industrial world, is a firm believer that all of the problems will 
ultimately be satisfactorily solved. ,“I am an optimist,” he says, “and I 
feel that with higher education within the reach of the masses, and the keen 
interest taken by all classes in the administration of government, we can be 
sure that future generations will be infinitely better off than we are.” 

He deplores the fact that he was denied the advantages of college train¬ 
ing in his youth. Although versed in several subjects through private study 
he feels that the guidance of expert instructors would have enabled him to 
cover a much larger field. 

“I would impress upon the minds of our young men and women the im¬ 
portance of laying the foundation for a successful life by securing a thor¬ 
ough education,” he aserts. He further adds that no education is thorough 
that does not include experience in some line of manual labor. 

A detailed account of the other children of John Engman is not avail¬ 
able at this writing, but we will briefly mention them and give the informa¬ 
tion that is at hand. 

John F. Engman, born in Michigamme, Michigan, September 17, 1875, 
has been employed most of his life as a locomotive fireman, and as a brake- 
man. He was married in July, 1905, to Miss Ellen Engwald. They have 
three children: Milfred, Leland, and Linnea. The family live at Proctor, 
Minnesota. 

Sam Victor Engman was born in the old section house at Deerwood, on 
March 12, 1877. He was at one time employed in Chicago, Ill., as foreman 
in charge of construction work, but has spent the greater part of his life on 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


35 


the farm, of which he is now half-owner. He is a memiber of Deerwood 
Lodge 106, I. O. O. F. 

Albertina Engman, first white girl born in Deerwood, is now Mrs. James 
R. McKay and is living in San Diego, California. The date of her birth is 
August 2. 1878. 

Charles A. Engman, born on the homestead near Deerwood, Septem¬ 
ber 10, 1880, was for many years engaged as superintendent for the McDon¬ 
ald Construction Company of Chicago, and in that capacity has had charge 
of structural work in many of the states of the Union. He is at present 
living in Philadelphia, Penn., where he is superintendent for the Spencer 
Construction Company, a concern that has its headquarters in Boston. He 
is married to Miss Jennie Johnson of Rush City, Minnesota. Their three 
children are named Zella, Virginia and Charles, Jr. 

Mary Engman, born May 16, 1883, died November 14, 1900. 


Harry Patterson 


With the passing of time, the persons and events that are the constitu¬ 
tive elements in the story of Deerwood in pioneer days, becoming more re¬ 
mote from us, the task of properly appraising each individual will become 
easier. Our locality has but too recently emerged from pioneer environment 
so that our proximity to that time often blurs the perspective. The future 
historian of Deerwood will be better able to estimate the true value and 
character of the first settlers because of his clearer view, and the fact that 
he has the advantage of noting the extent of their influence upon the genera¬ 
tions that followed. 

Among those whose names will always occupy a prominent place in our 
local history was Harry Patterson. He came to Deerwood at the beginning 
of its settlement, lived here for a period of thirty-five years, and through 
usefulness to his fellow citizens has left a lasting impression upon the com¬ 
munity. 

Harry Patterson was born May 24, 1837 in Ringerige, Norway, where his 
father was a well to do farmer. He received a good education in the schools 
of Christiania and among the subjects he mastered, which later stood him in 
good stead, was English. In his youth he became an interpreter on vessels 
sailing to the ports of England. It was during these trips that he became 
imbued with the desire to see America. 

In the year 1858 he bade his native country farewell and came to the 
United States, stopping first in Chicago. Later he went to Louisiana where 
he lived for some time employed as a foreman of a railroad construc¬ 
tion crew. To the young Norseman one of the strange customs of the new 
country that impressed him deeply with its injustice, was that of Negro 
slavery then prevailing throughout the south. 

He spent some time in Arkansas, employed in the manufacture of ties 
in the timber districts. He gradually drifted north and in the year 1875 he 
arrived in Deerwood to take charge of one of the railroad sections. 

During his first year or two in Deerwood he took his meals at the R. B. 
Coffin home, or until the John Engman family came and kept boarders in 
the section house. 

A few years later he removed to Aldrich. His marriage to Mrs. Sarah 
Vinje took place in VerndaL in the month of June, 1880. In September of 
the following year, he, with his wife and two step-children, came to Deer¬ 
wood where he continued in the employ of the railroad company as section 
foreman for the next three years. 

Shortly after their arrival in Deerwood a daughter was born to them— 
Mabel—now Mrs. Frank Gormley of Missoula, Montana. Later a son, 
Thomas, was born, who resides in El Paso, Texas, where he is a Western 
Union telegraph operator. 

Mr. Patterson, resigning his position, purchased eighty acres of land in 
Section 17, near Deerwood, upon which he built a comfortable log house, and 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


37 


moved there with his family. He bought a horse and cows and proceeded 
to improve the land. 

About the middle of February, 1887, the family suffered the loss of their 
home by fire. A frame residence was then erected on a site some distance 
west of where the log house stood. 

The family lived on this farm until 1902 when it was sold to Joseph 
Raymond and they removed to Deerwood village, where Mr. Patterson con¬ 
ducted a boat house until the time of his death, October 5th, 1911. 

Mr. Patterson became identified with the progress of the Deerwood set¬ 
tlement from the very beginning. He was active in aiding the perfection of 
the township organization and became its first treasurer, an office he held 
for about twenty years. He served the township in other capacities, includ¬ 
ing that of assessor. For many years he held also the office of treasurer of 
the school district (then known as common school district No. 7.) 

His services as county'Commissioner, during three terms, was marked 
by his conscientious administration of county affairs, and particularly to the 
advantage of his district. He was easily the most influential member of 
the Board, at that time. Not long ago a writer in a Brainerd paper obser¬ 
ved that if the County “still has as economical management as it had during 
the time that Harry Patterson was one of the county commissioners, we 
would be much better off.” 

Several of the main highways in this vicinity were laid out through the 
efforts of Mr. Patterson during that time. 

He unselfishly gave much of his time to the various phases of commun¬ 
ity development, no matter what they were, whether schools, roads, or other 
needs. He was the leading spirit in the organization of the cemetery asso¬ 
ciation, whose secretary he was from the first meeting until his death. 

The opening paragraph of his minute book informs us who the other 
men were who helped to organize this association. We quote from it: “Pur¬ 
suant to call the following persons met in the Deerwood school house, Sat¬ 
urday, May 12, 1888, for the purpose of organizing a cemetery association: 
John Brand, John Engman, Charles Lofholm, John Crone, Louis Carlson, An¬ 
drew Peterson, Harry Patterson, Nels Erickson, Andrew Blom and S. Redin.” 

Mr. Patterson was superintendent of the first Sunday school in Deer¬ 
wood, at a time when it was held in the different homes and at the little 
school house. The writer has in his possession a keepsake from those 
days— a Bible bound in greenish cloth, one of the fly leaves bearing this in¬ 
scription: “To Alfred Crone, Xmas 1887, From Harry Patterson, Supt.” 

Mr. Patterson was successful as a Sunday school Superintendent and in¬ 
structor, in that he had the faculty of explaining the texts and lessons in 
such a manner as to make the meaning clear to the juvenile mind. His ex¬ 
pression was devoid of obscure terms and the questions he was wont to put 
to his class were of a nature that would draw out the salient points of the 
story. 

It is fitting in this mention of the first Sunday school in Deerwood to 
state that this work was also greatly promoted through the personal efforts 
of Mrs. R. H. Mjorford and Miss Mary A. Morford. 

The first religious services in this locality were held at the Patterson 


38 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


home by a clergyman from Brainerd, whose name we do not recall at this 
time. 

Speaking of Mr. Patterson’s readiness to serve his fellowmen, whatever 
the occasion chanced to be, an incident comes to mind: An elderly neighbor* 
woman, Mrs. Zachary Johnson, died in December, 1884, and the few settlers 
gathered for the funeral. No minister of the gospel was present to offici¬ 
ate and there was an awkward pause when the remains were to be carried 
from the home, but Mr. Patterson relieved the tension by coming forward, 
bowing his head and repeating the Lord’s Prayer. 

He was often called upon to address gatherings, such as last-day-of- 
school picnics, Fourth of July celebrations, and others. His speeches were 
usually brief, but to the point, revealing his intensely patriotic nature by his 
frequent allusions to the traditions of America and the privileges that fol¬ 
low American citizenship. 

Many of the early Scandinavian settlers of 'this vicinity were aided by 
Mr. Patterson in obtaining their citizenship papers and he made many trips 
to Brainerd and elsewhere to assist them in this matter. He came in con¬ 
tact with everyone that settled here during his time; whenever advice was 
needed concerning hay ground leases, timber stumpage, and a score of other 
similar subjects, they sought Mr. Patterson, who freely gave of his time, us¬ 
ually without compensation, but glad to be of service. 

In politics he firmly adhered to Republican principles. At various times 
he was tendered positions as reward for his loyalty to the party, but declined 
all offers of this sort, feeling that his party allegiance was a matter of con¬ 
science. 

At the time of his death he was the president of the DaerwJdd Commer¬ 
cial Club. 

Mr. Patterson was socially inclined and his home was often the scene of 
happy neighborhood gatherings. In temperament his sunny nature predom¬ 
inated. There was never any trace of bitterness in his speech, no matter 
how much he might disagree in a discussion. 

He was one of the foremost characters that lived in Deerwood during 
the pioneer stage. 

Mrs. Sarah Patterson is the daughter of Bjorn and Ragna Hermanson 
and was born in Point Creek Prairie, Allamakee County, Iowa. She is mak¬ 
ing her home with her daughter, Mrs Gormley, at Missoula, Montana. Two 
children were born to her during her first marriage, namely: Jeanette Vic¬ 
toria and John Bryant Vinje. The first named became the wife of P. K. Wet¬ 
zel, living here until her death, October 19, 1918. John B. Vinje died June 16, 
1898, at Superior, Wisconsin, his death resulting from an accident, while at¬ 
tending the Normal school. 


In the year 1845, there was born in the seaport of Helsingor, Denmark, 
a boy who received the name of Nicklas. Very little is known of his par¬ 
ents, whose family name was Nygaard, or about the early life of this boy, 
who later in life became known as Nick Newgard, and who settled in Deer- 
wood in 1874, and therefore was one of the very first to locate in these parts. 

Early in life he felt the call of the Viking blood in his veins, and before 
he was a man grown he had sailed the seas and visited many foreign ports. 
He had reached his nineteenth birthday when his country called her youth 
to the colors in that hopeless struggle with Prussia for the retention of the 
duchy of Schleswig-Holstein. Young Newgard enlisted and served as a 
private until wounded and discharged. 

He emigrated to the United States in 1871 and shortly after his arrival 
enlisted in the regular army and was sent out to the army post at Ft. Buford, 
Montana. The following year he was discharged because of disability caus¬ 
ed by the wounds he received in the Danish war. 

As has been stated, he came to Deerwood in 1874, where he followed the 
work of track laborer and sawmill hand for a number of years. 

During his first year here, the rumor became rife that the Indians were 
preparing for an uprising, and Mr. Newgard, with several young men 
of military training at Brainerd, formed a company for the purpose of giv¬ 
ing protecteion to the frontier country. One day a message came that the 
Indians at White Earth were assembling en masse, and that their actions in¬ 
dicated hostility to the whites. The company entrained and left for Detroit, 
Minnesota, word reaching them at intervals, while en route, of the Indian 
forces being increased hourly with warriors. However, after reaching their 
destination, the defenders of civilization found nothing at which to be alarm¬ 
ed, and returned to their homes at their earliest convenience. 

In 1877 Mr. Newgard became the hero of the first romance that was 
staged in the new settlement. The heroine in the love drama was Mary 
Johnson, a young lady who was housekeeper at her brother, Charley John¬ 
son’s homestead home, four miles east of Deerwood. Miss Johnson often vis¬ 
ited with the Engman family at the section house, the young couple frequent¬ 
ly meeting there. Their marriage took place after a brief courtship and the 
groom and bride lived happily in the upstairs rooms at Robert Archibald’s. 
He was at that time employed at Torrey’s sawmill, situated on Serpent Lake 
on what is now Thomas F. Cole’s beach. 

But alas! the Fates had decreed that the wedded life of Nick Newgard 
was to be brief. In less than a year his wife passed away in death, leaving 
him disconsolate and lonely. 

He built a little house near the mill, living there several years. Among 
his accomplishments during this time was. that of the taxidermist’s art. His 
large cabinet, filled with mounted specimens of birds and quadrupeds, at¬ 
tracted a good deal of attention. 


40 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


In the early 80’s he homesteaded a fine tract of land on Bay Lake, where 
he took up the study of horticulture and was first to introduce the culture of 
raspberries at Bay Lake. He also made a specialty of Delaware grapes. 
About the year 1906 he disposed of his original homestead and purchased a 
smaller tract on the lake. 

He died May 17, 1918. The funeral services were held at the Bay Lake 
school house and were conducted by Rev. Dr. Ryan, the rector of St. Paul’s 
church, Duluth. 

At the time of his death, a friend wrote an obituary of Nick Newgard, 
which was published in The Enterprise, and which contained the following 
estimate of his character. “For many years he has lived alone and though 
of a retiring disposition, he had a kindly nature, and he enjoyed his many 
friends and neighbors. Probably his greatest pleasure was obtained by as¬ 
sociation with his fruits and flowers. He has been an example of thrift and 
industry and he will be missed by all who had the good fortune of his ac¬ 
quaintance.” 


Charles Anderson 


When Charles Anderson came to Deerwood in the spring of 1875, he was 
in the very height of physical strength and endurance and soon became not¬ 
ed as the most expert tie and wood chopper in this locality. He had been 
living in the United States about four years and had become so perfectly ac¬ 
climated to the country, and accustomed to the new conditions, that his de¬ 
cision to make his permanent home here, was reached with little effort. 

He was born in Alingsas, in the parish of Horla, Skaraborg’s Lan, Swed¬ 
en, in September, 1841. His educational opportunities were slender and con¬ 
sisted of but a few days’ attendance under the parish schoolmaster. The in¬ 
formation concerning his early life in Sweden is meager. In 1871, we find 
him employed at railroad construction work in the province of Wermland 
and when the civil engineer in charge, a young lieutenant, informed him 
that men were wanted for railroad work in America at good wages, and that 
free transportation could be secured, Mr. Anderson decided to go. 

He worked on the St. Paul and Duluth line and at Alexandria before 
coming to Deerwood. The decision to locate here is perhaps best explained 
by one of his sons, who says, “Father was a lover of the outdoors and the 
greater part of his life was spent in the forests hunting deer and cutting ties 
and cordwood.” 

He obtained contracts from logging concerns to furnish their camps with 
venison through the winter months. Thus, one winter, we are told, he killed 
over 40 deer in this vicinity. 

A story of those hunting days has come to us from one, who himself is 
a pioneer, and conversant with the details: Mr. Anderson had rigged up a 
seat in a tree overlooking a deer runway, from which he was keeping vigil on 
a moonlight night. A bear came along and Mr. Anderson opened fire, wound¬ 
ing the animal, which disappeared in the brush. He followed the animal some 
distance, but realizing that a wounded bear is a dangerous antagonist, he de¬ 
cided to seek the assistance of his neighbor, Andrew Bengtson, whose log 
cabin home was a short distance away. Mr. Bengtson was willing to go bear 
hunting, and came along with the only weapon in his possession—a three- 
tined pitchfork. A long search availed the hunters nothing and Mr. Bengt¬ 
son was greatly relieved when they wended their way homeward, for, as he 
expressed himself, he had no desire to emulate the erratic king, Charles XII, 
whose favorite pastime was hunting bears with clubs and pitchforks. 

Mr. Anderson selected his homestead in a tract of heavy hardwood tim¬ 
ber, bordering on Black Lake. Here he made his home during the remain¬ 
der of his life. His marriage to Maria Helena Johnson took place in 1884. 
There were eight children in their family, namely: Victor, William, Albert, 
Gust, Julius, Carl, Alma, and Charles Jr. (the last two named are deceased). 

Charles Anderson passed from this life on June 27, 1909. His widow 
now lives with her son, Julius, at Savage, Minn. 

None of the Anderson children are now living here. William, who is 


42 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


married to Kate McClaire, is a resident of Duluth; Albert, whose wife’s 
maiden name is Esther Lydia Sharp, is in the insurance business at Leaven-* 
worth, Kansas; Gust and Carl are at Port Orchard, Wash. 


Andrew Hoving 

Andrew Hoving settled near Deerwood about the year 1878. He had se¬ 
lected an ideal homestead in section twenty-four, of what is now Irondale 
Township. 

In a clump of tall pine trees on the shores of the little lake, he erected 
a comfortable house of hewn logs, and here he and his family dwelt for many 
years—until his children were all grown up, living in homes of their own, 
and the infirmities of old age compelled him to sell the farm. 

The family left Sweden in the early 70’s and before coming to Deerwood 
had lived in Michigan, where Mr. Hoving was employed in the occupation of 
mining. Through correpondence with John Engman, with whom they were 
acquainted, they came to Minnesota, to enjoy the ownership of a 160-acre 
homestead. The Hovings were an exceptionally thrifty and industrious fam¬ 
ily, and their place soon developed from a small clearing in the forest into 
a well-tilled farm. 

Mr. Hoving applied himself in a systematic manner to the improvement 
of his farm, adding many conveniences with the passing years. He spent 
little time away from home. His greatest enjoyment in his spare moments, 
was to peruse Swedish periodicals printed in the United States, to several of 
which he subscribed. 

Andrew Hoving was born in Skaraborg, Sweden, in 1827, and died Janu¬ 
ary 26, 1907. His wife, Lotta Hoving, was also born in the same part of 
Sweden, the year of her birth being 1823; her death occurred on February 17, 
1904. 

They had five children: Mary, who was married to Louis Sealander at 
Ishpeming Michigan, and who with her husband settled on the south-west 
quarter of section twenty, of Deerwood Township, in 1883, and who died in 
September, 1895, in her forty-sixth year; Peter, who had a position as bag¬ 
gage master at Iron Mountain, Michigan, and, as far as we know, is still a 
resident of that place; John E., now road master of a railroad division, living 
at Fergus Falls, Minnesota; Lena, widow of George Merriott, living on a 
fruit farm about ten miles from Portland, Oregon; Thilda, who is now Mrs. 
Charles Rasch of Lodi, California. 


Robert Halstead Morford 

Robert Halstead Morford was the son of Samuel Denton Morford and 
Elsie DeRiemer Morford. He was born at Newton, Sussex County, New 
Jersey, on the 6th day of December, 1829. 

His great grand-father, on the paternal line, was a native of Wales, 
who registered upon his arrival in New York City as a “Merchant from 
Wales.” On his mother’s side he was descended from the Dutch who settled 
New Amsterdam. The story of his Dutch ancestors furnishes an interesting 
narrative, in which are elements of romance and adventure. 

Among these ancestors were Anneke Jans or Jansen, whose love affair 
in Holland with a youth much beneath her station, brought upon her the 
wrath of her father, who was a prince. The lovers eloped and settled in 
New Amsterdam, where they acquired a tract of land, on which today the 
Trinity Church of New York stands. When the English came in 1664 and 
conquered the Dutch, Anneke and her husband, Roelaff Jansen, and their 
four children, fled to Fort Orange (now Albany), where they lived on a 
tract of land through which a stream flowed. One spring Jansen was 
drowned in the stream. Some years later his very attractive widow married 
the Reverend Everardus Bogardus. 

When her father the prince of Holland, died, it was discovered that he 
had made a strange will. His property was left in the custody of the Dutch 
court and was to be distributed among his descendants in the seventh 
generation. It has been well invested all these years, mostly in the Dutch 
Indies, and at this time is worth about $80,000,000. The time has come for 
this property to be distr.buted among the descendants of Anneke Jansen, 
who are said to be as numerous as the “sands of the sea shore.” 

The direct ancestor of Elsie DeRiemer, was a gold and silver smith 
named Pieter DeRiemer, who came from Holland in 1643, settling in New 
Amsterdam. His grand-daughter, wife of the Dutch minister, sold a lot on 
what is now Wall street for thirty-six dollars. Elsie DeRiemer’s grand¬ 
father was mayor of New York City in 1704 and it is said that he issued 
orders to light “every seventh street corner in the dark of the moon, by 
hanging out a lantern.” 

Mr. Morford had the advantages of a good education. His father was 
a banker and a man of considerable means, who was solicitous that his son 
should receive the best schooling and training possible. Young Morford was 
sent to a boys’ boarding school and later completed his education at Prince¬ 
ton University. 

After leaving Princeton he entered the banking house of Vermilye & 
Company of New York City, and later, in 1854, opened a bank in Chicago. 

In the year 1852 Mr. Morford was married to Miss Sarah C. Adams 
of New York. The ceremony took place in the Old Brick Church, New 
York City. 


44 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


Two children were born to this union, namely: Mary Adams Morford 
and Ada DeRiemer Morford. 

Mrs. Morford passed away in the summer of 1862. Several years later 
Mr. Morford was again married, his second wife being Mrs. Herman Cuyler 
Adams. She was the mother of Cuyler Adams, pioneer of Deerwood and 
discoverer of the Cuyuna Iron Range. 

In 1870 he came to Duluth with his family, having received the appoint-, 
ment to the important position of receiving agent of supplies for the con¬ 
templated Northern Pacific Railroad. Miss Mary A. Morford, the only 
remaining member of the family, now residing in Bordighera, Italy, writes: 
“At that time (1870) not a rail had been la d from Duluth and the town was 
a small collection of houses surrounded by red clay and black stumps. The 
railroad from St. Paul ran only to Hinckley and supplies came by boat.” 

Mr. Morford held his position as receiving agent until the road was 
completed to Bismarck, after which he served in a clerical capacity in the 
office of the auditor of passenger receipts. For a time he engaged in the 
banking business in Duluth, but the panic of 1873 caught him with many 
others, in which he suffered a heavy loss. 

Before coming to Deerwood, the Morford family had lived in St. Paul 
and during six months at Mandan, North Dakota. 

It was in the month of August, that the family built their home on 
Reno Lake. Mr. Morford’s selection of Deerwood for his home was made 
because of his failing in health and his desire to retire to some nook, re¬ 
motely situated from the marts of trade. 

While he possessed a sufficient competency to enjoy his declining years 
without care of any sort, yet his restless spirit and the habit of daily contact 
with his fellow men, prompted him to open a little store, and also to take 
charge of the postoffice (upon the death of Postmaster Wheeler about the 
year 1885). He also held the office of township clerk dur ng many years. 

Mr. Morford died January 4, 1911. His rema'ns were interred at Du¬ 
luth, to rest by the side of his wife, whose death had occured four years pre¬ 
viously. 

His daughter, Ada, died many years ago in St. Louis, and, as has been 
stated, his daughter, Mary A. is living in Italy. 

He was affil ated with the Presbyterian church and was a member of 
the Blue Lodge. In his youth he had been a member of the Seventh Reg¬ 
iment of New York City, of which his uncle was the colonel. 

Mr. Morford was in many respects a remarkable character. Born into 
a well-to-do, prominent family, his youth spent among the environments 
of aristocratic New York society, his many years of activity in the business 
world where he shouldered big responsibilities, and his old age tranquilly 
lived amidst the surroundings of a new country, into his life had come 
many experiences. 


Cuyler Adams 

To adequately write the story of Cuyler Adams would require far more 
space than can be allotted in this sketch. All we can do is to touch upon 
the high lights of his extraordinary and interesting career. 

When Mr. Adams first saw Deerwood, in the summer of 1873, while em¬ 
ployed in the engineer corps of the Northern Pacific Railroad, there were 
but two permanent settlers here—Robert Archibald and R. B. Coffin. Later, 
as land examiner for the railroad company, he had occasion to become more 
intimately acquainted with the character of what was then a primeval north- 
land, and became so attracted to its beautiful forests arid sky-blue lakes 
that he,' in 1882, established his home here. 

Mr. Adams was born in Canton, Illinois, August 20, 1852. His parents 
were Herman Cuyler Adams and Frances M. (Burr) Adams. He v/as educat¬ 
ed by private tutors, and at Poughkeepsie Military Institute of New York, 
but owing to ill-health was compelled, at the age of eighteen, to abandon his 
studies and in the outdoor life seek health and strength. 

Arriving in Duluth in the year 1870 with fifty dollars in his pockets, a 
present from his grandfather, and “grub-staked” by one of the merchants, 
he spent a year near Lake Vermilion, trading with the Indians and trapping. 
He learned to speak the Chippewa language and became the friend of Chief 
Rainy Lake. He saved about five-hundred dollars in the venture and, best 
of all, regained his health. 

He then became rodman on the surveys of the Northern Pacific Railroad 
and held various positions, finally becoming land examiner for the company. 

In 1876 he went to Philadelphia to interest several wealthy men in form¬ 
ing a partnership with him for the purchase of 100,000 acres of virgin prairie 
land in Dakota Territory. 

The preferred stock of the Northern Pacific with par value of one-hundred 
dollars, had during the Jay Cooke failure dropped to twelve or fourteen 
dollars. A clause in the preferred stock provision permitted “the holder of 
shares to receive in exchange for them the equivalent of its face value in 
railroad lands.” Mr. Adams’ company raised $70,000 which was invested 
in preferred railroad stock, which later was exchanged for about 100,000 
rcres of land. 

After a few years, Mr. Adams took the ownership of the land by giving 
mortgages, which in turn were assumed by new settlers to whom he sold. 
The whole tract was disposed of in five years time and Mr. Adams realized 
about $100,000 from his undertaking. 

Before selling the lands, he cultivated several thousand acres, with 
headquarters at Spiritwood, and became what was termed a “bonanza” farm¬ 
er —one who cultivated western lands on a big scale. He kept his mule 
teams busy during the winter months by freighting supplies between Mandan 
and the mining camps in the Black Hills. 


46 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


Settling in Deerwood, where he had previously bought several tracts of 
land, one of which he subsequently platted into the townsite of Deerwood, 
he engaged in logging and furnishing ties for the railroad. 

Among the first improvements that he made in this locality was the 
cutting out of a trail to Bay Lake, with aid of Robert and David Archibald. 
He also operated one of the first sawmills in this section, its site being on 
Black Lake. 

“In those early days,” says Mr. Adams, “Brainerd shop men used to 
come out here Sundays and fish in Reno and Serpent Lakes, taking back 
washtubs full of fish.” 

It was in the 90’s that Mr. Adams entered upon the work that brought 
him enduring fame, the discovery of the Cuyuna Range. The story of his 
indefatigable efforts in tracing the deflection of the needle of the compass, 
while surveying property lines, until he had proven the existence of large 
bodies of iron ores underneath the surface, and the years of persistent, 
patient labor that ultimately carried him to success and wealth, reads like a 
narration of fiction. 

Mr. Adams formed a company that began exploration drilling in May, 
1903, and the first drill hole proved that his theories were correct. Mining 
operators at once became interested in the Cuyuna Range, so named by his 
v/ife from the first syllable of “Cuyler,” and “Una,” a St. Bernard dog that 
was his constant companion for several years in his travels through the for¬ 
ests. 

Today the Cuyuna Range is a heavy producer of iron ores, and Mr. 
Adams, its discoverer, has large holdings in these mining properties. 

Mr. Adams was married October 20, 1881, to Miss Virginia B. Culver, 
daughter of Col. J. B. Culver of Duluth. She passed away in the year 1918. 

Their two sons, Culver and Robert M., are interested in mining opera¬ 
tions and exploration work on the iron range which their father discovered. 
A son, Salisbury, who achieved prominence a*s mining engineer and geologist, 
died a number of years ago. 

Mr. Adams is a versatile man. He is a mining engineer of note, a chemist 
who can, if he so desires, assay his own ores, a student of astronomy and is 
well versed in other sciences. He has traveled widely, not only in his own 
native land, but in many foreign countries of the globe. 

He is an Episcopalian in his religious belief and a Republican in politics. 
He is a member of various clubs and societies, among them being the Union 
League (Chicago), Rocky Mountain (New York), Minnesota Historical So¬ 
ciety, American Institute of Mining Engineers and the Royal Arts (London, 
England). 

Mr. Adams has the distinction of having his name and life-sketch pub¬ 
lished in “Who’s Who in America,” a yearly publication devoted to the records 
of those who have achieved noble and beneficent accomplishments. 


John Brand 


John Brand settled on his homestead, July 12, 1883. His choice of lo¬ 
cation, on the south shore of Portage Lake, was no doubt due to the charm¬ 
ing view from that point across the two bodies of the lake which are connect¬ 
ed by a narrow strait. Also another factor in determining the selection of 
this homestead was that the greater part of this tract contained level tim¬ 
bered surface and rich soil—altogether an ideal location for a farm home. 

Mr. Brand was a lover of nature, an inherited quality from his fore¬ 
bears, who had lived in the forest and lake region of Vermland, Sweden, 
where he was born and grew to manhood. He had spent a summer at Deer- 
wood almost ten years before he settled on his homestead, and had become 
greatly impressed with the new country, which in many respects resembled 
his native land. 

Mr. Brand was the son of Anders and Kajsa Andersson, and was born 
October 4, 1849, in a parish known as Brunskog (Brown Woods). He ar¬ 
rived in the United States on June 7, 1872, and was united in marriage to 
Miss Maria Johnson at Ishpeming, Michigan, in October, 1875, a young lady 
whom he had known in the Old Country. 

They lived in Ishpeming until coming to Deerwood. Mr. Brand did not 
find his occupation as a miner conductive to his health, and he yearned for 
the health-giving out-of-doors pursuits, so the home on Strawberry Hill, an 
elevation overlooking the mining town, was sold and the family came to 
Deerwood. They were accompanied here by Mr. Brand’s mother, who had 
joined them at Ishpeming and who made her home with them until her 
death in 1896, at the age of 75 years. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brand found, in common with other Deerwood settlers, 
that many difficulties had to be overcome before the comforts of a home 
could be realized. Roads had to be chopped out so that their household goods 
and neccessary building materials could be hauled to the land. Making an 
error in looking up the surveyed lines of his homestead, Mr. Brand discov¬ 
ered that the log house he erected had been built on the adjoining land, and 
it had to be torn down and built anew. 

Before winter came, the first year, Mr. Brand had, besides building the 
comfortable log house and small barn, cleared out an opening in the timber, 
which he grubbed out for a garden plot. 

The little clearing was widened out with the passing years until the 
Brand farm became one of the largest and most productive in this vicinity. 

While engaged in the improvement of his farm, his leisure time, par¬ 
ticularly in the winter evenings by the lighted lamp, was spent in reading 
and he became well informed on many subjects, especially Swedish literature. 
His interest in his adopted country and its political events was keen. His 
adherence to the Republican party principles was a matter of earnest con¬ 
viction with him. 


48 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


He was always interested in local community improvements, lending’ 
his hand whenever the opportunity presented itself. He served as town¬ 
ship supervisor for a number of years. 

He assisted in organizing the Lutheran church at Deerwood (the date of 
organization is December 30, 1889) and served as secretary for this congre¬ 
gation for several years. He took an active part in the formation of the 
Skandia Cemetery Association. 

Mr. Brand died October 22, 1920. 

The Brands had no children of their own, but adopted as their son their 
nephew, Ed( Brand, who in his infancy became an orphan and who now 
with Mrs. Mary Brand occupies the farm. 

Mr. Brand’s body reposes in the Skandia Cemetery, across the lake from 
the homestead which he developed and which through many years to come 
will bear evidence of his painstaking labor and care. 


Lars Gust Highfield 

Lars Gust Highfield, born June 3, 1853, in Dahlsland, Sweden; died 
November 21, 1921, at Deerwood, Minnesota. 

He settled in the year 1883 on a hundred and sixty acre homestead, 
situated in the south-east Quarter Section 28, Deerwood township. 

Mr. Highfield, who in 1881 was married to Miss Maria Aronson, had 
lived in Ishpeming, Michigan, and for a brief time at St. Cloud, Minnesota, 
before coming to Deerwood. The dull times of 1883 induced him to take 
up homestead land and become a farmer. 

In first looking over government land around Deerwood he had been in¬ 
formed that the north shore of Portage Lake, where Mr. Cowling now lives, 
was government land having the legal description of the land he filed on. 
After entering his filing at the U. S. land office at St. Cloud and arriving 
at Deerwood he discovered his error, which quite naturally was a great dis¬ 
appointment, but finding that his homestead, though rolling as to surface, 
was fertile of soil, he decided that his selection was not so bad after all. 

Mr. Highfield was of a quiet, unassuming disposition, whose greatest 
pleasure was in performing the work around his farm and improving the 
same. For a time he had the contract for carrying the mail from Deerwood 
to Bay Lake. 

He was of a deeply religious nature and interested in the furthering of 
church work in his community and especially of the Baptist church, of which 
he was a member. 

Gust Highfield had four children: Ellen (Mrs. C. J. Rath von, Deer¬ 
wood); Peter, who lives on the original Highfield homestead; Hannah (Mrs. 
R. M. Donnett); and Ida (Mrs. George Malchow), deceased. 


C. G. Christensen 


It was on the 10th day of February, 1883, that C. G. Christensen arrived 
in Deerwood to settle on his homestead in Section 4, of what is now Bay 
Lake Township. The winding passage through the woods, known as the 
“Sissebagamah Trail”, from the railroad station to Bay Lake, past his claim, 
was barely passable for teams, but this was only one of the many drawbacks 
he encountered. However, Mr. Christensen did not lack courage, nor vision. 
He had also the advantage over some of the other new settlers in that pio¬ 
neer life was not a new experience to him, for ten years previously he and 
his wife had emigrated from Denmark and had homesteaded in the wilds of 
Ontario, Canada. 

Mr. and Mrs. Christensen still live on the homestead he picked out for 
their home near Bay Lake, and they naturally find a marvelous contrast in 
the forty years time, in conditions as they were then and as they are now. 
The trail is now the gravelled highway over which the motor car is humming 
at rapid speed. Their first modest homestead home has been replaced with 
a more pretentious residence. Where the view was obscured by the dense 
growth of trees and brush, the eye now rests upon the open sweep of culti¬ 
vated fields. The favored retreat of browsing deer has become the pasture 
for the dairy herd. Withal the change is for the better and the family is 
reaping the rewards of patient and diligent labor. 

Christian Godfred Christensen was the son of Jacob Christensen and 
Inga Mary (Christopher) Christensen, and was born in Fredrickshavn, Den¬ 
mark, October 22, 1852. He married Miss Anna Katrina Lund on June 14, 
1873, and less than a month later (July 10th) they set out with America as 
their goal, landing at Collingwood, Ontario, three weeks later. From there 
they went by boat to Parry Sound and took up a homestead near Senguin 
Falls. This tract was heavily timbered, and, at that time when timber had 
but little merchantable value, proved a handicap in the clearing of a farm. 
He became discouraged and moved onto a homestead in another locality. 
The family left Canada and came to Duluth in the month of May, 1880, 
where Mr. Christensen secured employment as a dock hand. 

Since coming to Deerwood he has been engaged in farming and dairy¬ 
ing. 

Mr. Christensen is a charter member of the Lutheran church at Deer¬ 
wood. In his early life he became an active church worker and when the 
Deerwood settlement grew with the influx of Scandinavian settlers he was 
one of the first to promote a Lutheran Sunday schpol and to help establish 
regular organized Sunday worship. The meetings were held in the homes 
and the attendance was generally good, though many had to walk several 
miles to be in attendance. He has been one of the officers of the Deerwood 
Lutheran church from its establishment. 

One of the never-to-be-forgotten incidents in the life of the Christensen 
family, during the first spring that they lived on their homestead, wa< when 
their eldest son, William, then about six years old, became lost in the woods, 
while being sent on an errand to his uncle’s place, one-half mile away. For 
three days the boy was lost, while searching parties scoured the country in 


50 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


all directions. He was found sitting asleep, his back resting against a tree, 
on the shore of the lake at N. V. Peterson’s. Dave Archibald and a Mr. 
Baker were the members of the searching party that found him. He was 
famished and very weak, but with proper care soon recovered. The day be¬ 
fore he was found, a large dog belonging to Robert Archibald had rushed up 
to the boy, but the latter had become frightened and had made haste to get 
away from it. 

Mr. and Mrs. Christensen had eleven children in all, four of whom died 
in infancy, and the eldest, Laura (Mrs. Peters), died at Floodwood, Minne¬ 
sota, October 13, 1913. The names and residences of their children are as 
follows: William, Woodland, Washington, John, Abraham, and Isaac, Bay 
Lake; Marie (Mrs. A. W. Nelson), Route No. 1, Deerwood; Sarah (Mrs. Mc¬ 
Cormick) Floodwood, Minn. 


./. F. Lundsteclt 

John Frederick Lundstedt, born in Stockholm, Sweden, June 5, 1826. 
Received an excellent education in Stockholm. Engaged at the cooper’s 
trade and farming at Alborg, Denmark. Married in 1873 to Mrs. Ingeborg 
Lund (mother of Mrs. C. G. Christensen). Came to America in 1873 with 
the Christensen family and settled on a homestead in the province of On¬ 
tario, Canada. 

Arrived in Deerwood in the spring of 1885; bought a homestead relin¬ 
quishment from T. Nelson in Section 34, Deerwood Township. Made final 
proof and sold the farm to V. C. Taylor and bought another tract of land in 
Section 23. After a few years disposed of this and came to live in Bay Lake 
Township. 

Mr. Lundstedt died October 29, 1906. His wife passed away August 10, 
1916 at the age of 91 years. 

Mr. Lundstedt was one of the best educated men among the Scandina¬ 
vian settlers at Deerwood, and did much active work in the first Lutheran 
Sunday school and church. 


N. V . Peterson 

It was May 16, 1884. The morning passenger train from the west ar¬ 
rived in Deerwood a few minutes after eight o’clock, and a man with his 
wife and four children got off at the little station. The rain, which had be¬ 
gun in the night, was still pouring down and the family found the shelter 
of the depot most welcome. They patiently waited for the skies to clear, 
so they could continue the journey to their destination, out to Gust High- 
field’s homestead cabin. 

Shortly after the noon hour the sun peeped out brightly upon the rain- 
drenched landscape, and the family—N. V. Peterson’s—set out afoot over 
the newly chopped out Bay Lake trail. Wading in the mud through the wet 
grass and brush was bad enough, but they found the bridge at the Hamlet 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


51 


Lake outlet carried away by the high water and were obliged to ford the 
stream. Mr. Peterson had to carry the members of his family, one at a 
time, across. 

The Peterson family had come from St. Cloud to settle on their home¬ 
stead in Section 32, Deerwood Township. They remained at Highfield’s for 
several weeks while their log cabin was being constructed. 

The outlook was anything but encouraging, for Mr. Peterson’s finan¬ 
cial resources consisted of but a few dollars and there was a large family 
to maintain. Before his quarters were built he was compelled to seek em¬ 
ployment in order to earn money for groceries. 

He was offered a job by Harry Patterson, which he gladly accepted, 
the job being that of hilling up a small patch of potatoes. But before he 
had started with the work he informed Mr. Patterson that his family was 
in need of flour and asked him to “stake” him (Peterson) with a half sack 
of flour. Mr. Patterson readily granted this request and suggested that Mr. 
Peterson get a full 98-pound sack. Mr. Peterson carried the sack of flour 
on his back from Deerwood to the Highfield home, where his family was 
temporarily quartered. 

Completing the job of hilling the potatoes, he put up some hay for Mr. 
Patterson and later was engaged by R. H. Morford and R. B.. Coffin to cut 
hay for them. Thus he earned enough to provide for his family, the first 
summer he was in Deerwood. 

It was two years, or more, before he could afford to buy a cow, and 
then had to draw the hay for its winter feed on a hand sled from the 
swamps vdiere it was cut, to his barn. 

Under such discouraging circumstances was begun the settlement of 
the Peterson farm. The homestead was heavily timbered and it required 
much labor before the ground was ready for the plow. Mr. Peterson plan¬ 
ned to make the best possible use of the timber. There being no market for 
cordwood in those days, he made charcoal from the small timber, which he 
sold to the railroad company, while the larger trees were hewn into shape 
for building material or hauled to the sawmill at Bay Lake to be converted 
into lumber. 

Mr. Peterson and his sons, by their industry in a few years, changed 
the forest covered homestead into the highly improved farm that it is today. 

Nils Victor Peterson was born February 20, 1840, in the parish of 
Tived, Skaraborgs Lan, Sweden. His parents were Peter Arvidson and 
Kajsa (Nilson) Arvidson. 

He was married to Miss Johanna Anderson, to whom were born four 
children. 

He came to the United States in the early 70’s and worked on farms in 
Iowa and Illinois for two years. He saved up money to send for his family, 
but as his wife unable to travel on account of ill-health, he returned to his 
home in Sweden. 

His wife died, and later he was united in marriage to Miss Anna Ma¬ 
thilda Anderson, a sister of his first wife. 

The family came to America in the year 1883, living for a time at 


52 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


Crookston in which neighborhood Mr. Peterson had hoped to find a home¬ 
stead. However, the government land in that vicinity had all been taken 
and as there was very little employment to be found in that locality, he came 
to St. Cloud where the family had their home before coming to Deerwood. 

Mr. and Mrs. Peterson were identified with the Swedish Baptist church 
in the early days, the only religious organization in the vicinity at the time. 

Mrs. Peterson passed away in death on April 17, 1919 at the age of 67 
years. 

Still hale and hearty today Mr. Peterson is actively interested in the 
affairs of life. Highly respected and an honored member of the community, 
he is serenely passing his declining years at the home of his son, Carl, while 
still retaining his own farm. He has an interesting personality and it is a 
privilege to meet and converse with him. Indeed he is a fine type of the 
early pioneers of Deerwood. 

The names and residences of Mr. Peterson’s children are as follows: 
John, Federal Dam, Minnesota; Axel, Deerwood; Herman, Ironton, Minne¬ 
sota; Adolph, Federal Dam, Minnesota; Alma (Mrs. Guy Fischer) White 
Bear, Minnesota; Carl, Deerwood. ^g 

A daughter, TTilma, died February 28, 1910, aged 2lT years. 


Henry F. J. Knieff 

The early life of Henry F. J. Knieff is filled with many interesting de¬ 
tails. As a young man he became possessed of the “wanderlust,” and started 
out from his home in Hamburg, Germany, to see the world. Crossing Eu¬ 
rope, his wanderings brought him into Asia and Africa. He fought off ban¬ 
dit gangs in the Balkans and at other times lived in the tents of the Arabs 

in the desert. Returning home by the way of Rome, he visited the Pope, 

from whom he received a crucifix as a memento of the occasion. From Italy 
he went to Spain where a Dutch ship brought him back to his native city. 

He had been absent three years and found that his mother had died. 
His father had been dead many years—from the time he was six years old. 

Mr. Knieff was born in Hamburg, Germany, December 6, 1822. His 

father was sixty years old when the son was born, hence the year of his 
(father’s) birth is 1762. 

In his youth he served as an apprentice to a tinsmith and became an 
adept in that trade. 

Upon his return from his three years travels, he decided to go to Ameri¬ 
ca where his oldest half-sister lived. He came to New Orleans at first and 
later went to Cincinnati, where he became a foreman in Reizer’s tin shop. 

He was married while living in Cincinnati and after several years came 
west with his family, becoming one of the founders of New Ulm, Minnesota, 
where he settled. 

In 1862 he enlisted in the Sixth Minnesota Infantry for service in the 
Civil War. While stationed at Fort Snelling the Sioux outbreak occurred 
and the regiment was sent to fight the Indians. His family had fled to St. 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


53 


Peter, where he found them utterly destitute, for their home with all their 
belongings had been burned. 

Mr. Knieff took part in many skirmishes with the Indians. He drew 
double pay while in the service, for besides being a soldier he was also an 
artist, painting pictures of different scenes under direction of the govern¬ 
ment. When the Indian fighting came to a close, he was sent South with his 
regiment and was with General Butler in the occupation of New Orleans, as 
well as at Mobile when the war ended. 

He returned home, broken in health, and bought a place on Lake Minne¬ 
tonka. His wife died while the family lived at this place, and a few years 
later—October 12, 1872—he remarried. His second wife was Louise Wasser- 
zieher. 

In the summer of 1883 he drove to Bay Lake with a one-horse rig and 
picked out a homestead, his family arriving the same year. 

Mr. Knieff died October 26, 1888. 

He had two sons and six daughters by his first marriage and four chil¬ 
dren by the second. The names of his children by his second wife are: Max, 
Arthur, Oscar, and Hugo. Max and Oscar have died. 

Arthur Knieff is married and lives in Deerwood where he is the princi¬ 
pal of the village schools. 

Hugo Knieff lives on the original homestead at Bay Lake. 

Mrs. Louise Knieff died in the year 1895. 


Otto F. Wasserzieher 

Otto F. Wasserzieher was born October 29, 1836 in Machdeburg, Ger¬ 
many, and was the son of Edward Arnold Wasserzieher and Otilia Neisert. 
He came to America with his parents at the age of twelve years, the family 
living a few years at Freeport, Illinois, and later settling at Nauvoo, where 
they made a business of growing grapes and small fruit. 

During the Civil War, Mr. Wasserzieher joined Company I, 57th Regi¬ 
ment Infantry, Ill., and took part in Sherman’s famous march from Atlanta 
to the sea. 

He was married to Miss Adele Vogt, September 18, 1869. 

In the fall of 1884 he came to Deerwood with his family, the journey 
having been made by boat on the Mississippi River as far as St. Paul, and 
from there in a so called “emigrant car”, over the Northern Pacific railroad. 
They brought some cattle and all of their household goods with them, and 
settled on a homestead on what is now known as Echo Lake. 

Mr. Wasserzieher devoted his time on the homestead to the growing of 
fruit and he was among the first in the Bay Lake territory to raise fruit in 
marketable quantities. 

He died July 1, 1908. 

Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wasserzieher: Paul 0. Was¬ 
serzieher, who lives at Buffalo, N. Y.; Lillian H. (Mrs. O. C. Coffin), Deer¬ 
wood, Minn.; and Edward A. Wasserzieher, Deerwood, Minn., who is the gen- 


54 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


eral manager of the Aitkin-Deerwood Telephone Company, and who in past 
years has served the people of Deerwood as postmaster. 

Mrs. Adele Wasserzieher makes her home with her son, Edward, at 
Deerwood, and they spend several months every summer at the old home¬ 
stead home on Echo Lake. 


Peter Brand 

Peter Brand, brother of John Brand, came to Deerwood in the spring of 
3883 and looked the country over for the purpose of selecting a homestead. 
He filed on the Northeast Quarter of Section Twenty-eight, in Deerwood 
Township, and established his residence on the land in August of the afore¬ 
said year. 

He was born December 15, 1860, in Brunskog parish, Wermland, Sweden. 
He came to Brainerd, Minnesota, before he had reached his majority and 
since he homesteaded, has made his home at Deerwood with the exception of 
two years 1890-92 that he spent in Salt Lake City, Utah, and at a few differ¬ 
ent times when he has been engaged at work away from home. 

He has followed the building and contracting business, in which he has 
been greatly successful. Numerous buildings, both in the Village of Deer¬ 
wood and in the surrounding country, are monuments to his handiwork. 

In the early days he served the township as assessor and is at present 
a member of the school board in his district. 

He is a charter member of Deerwood Lodge 6069, Modern Woodmen of 
America, and is also a member of the Odd Fellows. 

Mr. Brand was united in marriage to Miss Dena Tidholm, in August, 
1909. They have seven children: Geraldine, Loretta, John Edward, Harold 
Joseph, Oscar William, Carl and Margaret. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brand reside in a cottage on the homestead, situated on 
the shore of Hamlet Lake. 


John Crone 

John Crone, with his wife and four children, settled on a homestead 
south of Deerwood, in the month of November, 1884. He had filed the entry 
for the homestead in the latter part of April of that year. The land com¬ 
prised the South-east Quarter of Section 20, in Deerwood Township. 

Mr. Crone was born in Gardsby parish, Kronobergs Lan, Sweden, Feb¬ 
ruary 14, 1852. He was the eldest son of Johannes Croon (1829-1901) and 
Maria Croon. His father served in a military capacity all of his life as had 
the grand-father (Magnus Schon Croon), receiving for his services an an¬ 
nual stipend with the privilege of free living quarters and the use of a 
small tract of land. Mr. Crone’s mother died when he was four years of 
age and his father, within a few years, remarried. 

Though his early schooling was rather limited, for there was a large 
and growing family for which to provide, and he was apprenticed to a 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


55 


tailor at the age of fourteen, yet his education was quite thorough, for all 
of his life he was a student and reader. When a lad of twelve he took first 
prize in penmanship at a competitive examination held in the city schools 
of Wexio, for which he received 10 crowns, an incident that spurred his 
ambitions to become well informed and thorough in his work. 

In 1869, at the age of seventeen he came to the United States. His 
father accompanied him to the nearest Swedish seaport town, Malmo, and 
bade him farwell with many admoni tions as to proper conduct in life. 
The journey, which occupied fourteen days across the Atlantic, was made 
via Copenhagen and Quebec. He first visited Sven Magnusson, a former 
neighbor, who had settled the year before at Rush City, Minnesota. His 
first work was on the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad, then building. While 
emp’oyed at this he suffered a permanent injury to his shoulder and spine. 
With the completion of the railroad he, for some time, had employment 
with construction crews on the Northern Pacific, and followed the line as 
far as Aitkin, that place being the end of the road at the time. 

He went to Michigan, where he worked at various employment in L’Anse, 
Ontonagen and Marquette, finally settling down at Ishpeming, where he was 
engaged in mining work at the Burt mine. In December, 1874, he was married 
to Miss Anna Anderson, a native of Brunskog, Wermland, Sweden, who had 
been in the United States but a few years. 

In the early 80’s when his neighbors, the John Brands, settled on a 
homestead at Deerwood, and wrote descriptive letters of the new country, 
he decided to move to Minnesota and take up some homestead land. The 
family came to Brainerd in the spring of 1884 and lived there until they 
moved to Deerwood, Mr. Crone being employed at the railroad shops in the 
meantime. 

The first house on the homestead was built of logs and was 14x16 feet 
in size, in which the family lived a number of years. It was slow work 
clearing away heavy timber and making a farm, especially as his means 
were small and he was compelled to work away from home part of the time, 
during the first years. And it was several years before the place could 
afford an ox-team, so that the land could be systematically broken out and 
put into fields. 

He was deeply interested in the affairs of his community, greatly con¬ 
cerned in the establishment of the Lutheran church and Sunday school at 
Deerwood, promoting the welfare of these institutions up to the time of 
his death and serving as treasurer and trustee of the former. He was also 
one of the organizers of the Skandia Cemetery Association, of which he 
was the treasurer. With his neighbors he planned and worked for better 
roads, hardly a year passing but what he was engaged for several weeks 
in either cutting out and opening new roads or improving the existing ones. 

In politics he was a Republican. 

Mr. Crone died June 27, 1915. His widow, Mrs. Anna Crone (born May 
8, 1851) still occupies the old home. Their children, all born in Ishpeming, 
Mich., are: Alfred J. Crone, Deerwood; Alma Josephine (Mrs. Peter Gustaf- 


56 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


son) passed away at San Jose, California, a number of years ago; Godfrey A. 
Crone, Deerwood; Hannah Elizabeth (Mrs. P. M. Kehl) Minneapolis, Minn. 


Anders Gustaf Peterson 

Anders Gustaf Peterson, known in Deerwood as Andrew Peterson, was 
born Nov. 11, 1835, in Fagerlid, Tiveden, Skaraborgs Lan, Sweden. He is 
the brother of N. V. Peterson, whose biographical sketch is included in this 
book. 

As a child he was taught to read and write by the pastor in the parish 
where he was reared, Rev. Arvid Tengstrand. Not a great deal of his early 
life is available at the time this sketch is writen. 

He was married New Year’s Day, 1868 to Miss Albertina Andersdotter 
(born April 24, 1842). He visited America three times, the last time re¬ 
maining here permanently. His first visit was in 1869 at which time he was 
engaged at the mines in Marquette and Ishpeming, Michigan. The second time 
he worked in the coal mines in Pennsylvania, also on the railroads in Con¬ 
necticut. He came to Deerwood in 1885, settling on a homestead in Section 
12, near Cedar Lake. Before coming here he was employed in a coal mine in 
Braddox, Pa. 

He came to Deerwood through his brother, N. V. Peterson, whom he 
visited, and found the country much to his liking, so took up a government 
homestead, where he still resides. He has developed his homestead into a 
cultivated farm and today, at the age of 88, still unusually active, is en¬ 
joying the fruits of his labors. 

The first years in Deerwood were spent, partially, in working away 
from home—at the Pine River dam in 1885-6. In 1887-8 in Duluth where he 
was employed in drilling and blasting through the rocks of Superior and 
Third Streets. In 1890 he built the first school house in district No. 27, a 
building constructed of hewn logs. 

Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have seven children: Gustaf Herman, Lovisa 
Josephine, Johan Ludvig, Carl Fritiof, Emma Wilhelmina, Julia Fredrika 
and Ernest Leonard, all residing in the vicinity of Deerwood, except Emma, 
who lives in Duluth. 


David Archibald 

David Archibald, brother of Robert and Walter S. Archibald, was the 
first white settler in Bay Lake Township, purchasing a tract of land on Bay 
Lake and making his home there in 1882. 

He was born in Musquoduboit, Nova Scotia, October 13, 1845, and re¬ 
moved to Minnesota with his parents in 1855. His education was secured in 
the rural schools of Hennepin County. At the age of fifteen he enlisted in 
idle First Minnesota Regiment as a sharpshooter. The date of his enlistment 
is December 24, 1861. He served with distinction with his regiment 


PIONEERS OF DEERWOOD 


57 


throughout the war, participating in many skirmishes and battles, until he 
was severely wounded in the thigh at Cold Harbor, Virginia, when he was 
taken to a hospital where he remained until January, 1805, at which time 
he was honorably discharged. 

On June 13, 1882, he was married to Miss Matilda E. Conzet, and short¬ 
ly thereafter moved with his wife from Long lake, Hennepin County, to Bay 
Lake, which has since been their home. 

Mr. Archibald, in the early days, hunted deer and bear and was known 
as one of the most successful hunters. He devoted a great deal of his time 
to the growing of small fruit and has been active in serving his community 
in various capacities. For four years he was a member of the board of coun¬ 
ty commissioners and for a period of ten consecutive years was the assessor 
of organized townships in Crow Wing County. 

He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1876 and is also 
a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. 

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Archibald are as follows: Ethel (Mrs. 
Dillman, Long Lake); Earl C. (Bay Lake); Elizabeth (Mrs. Esswein, Min¬ 
neapolis); two daughters have passed away: Elsie and Marie. The daugh¬ 
ters have all been engaged in the teaching profession. Earl is occupied at 
the carpenter’s trade. 


Other Pioneers 

Among other pioneers who settled in Deerwood before the year 1885, 
but whose biographical data is not available at the time these sketches are 
published, are James Torrey, P. L. Goss, C. G. Wheeler, Archie Downey, 
Andrew Benson, N. J. Sherlund, E. J. Winquist, J. C. Heglund, William 
Roberts, A. W. Hegquist. 


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4 
























THE IRONTON NEWS 

Printing and Publishing 
IRONTON, MINN. 








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